


Recipe For Disaster

by misakikinomoto



Series: The Disaster Trilogy [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Accidental Social Commentary, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Oblivious, Quidditch, Rivalry, idiots falling in love, puns, so many puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-31
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-03-20 13:16:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 55,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3651735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misakikinomoto/pseuds/misakikinomoto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The moment Erica is placed in Ravenclaw, she is made the Captain of the Quidditch team. However, with this seems to come dealing with the ever-creepy Marcus Flint (Captain of the Slytherin Team), the stalkery and confusing Oliver Wood (Captain of the Gryffindor Team) and O.W.Ls. Disregarding Oliver and Erica's rivalry/enmity/whatever-ness, the Universe keeps forcing them together. Its just a recipe for disaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Place, New Friends, New...Team?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my incredibly long (not really, but it is for me, okay?) Oliver/OC fic that was a result of me trying to get rid of exam stress last year. Its sort of my baby, in all honesty. 
> 
> A shoutout to Eddie and Nams who played a HUGE role in the making of this fic and my forever Cheerleader Carmen who helped me with all the tiny plot holes in the canon timeline. This is a cross-post from HPFF and FF.net. :)
> 
> I hope you guys like it!
> 
> I also have a set of mixes for this entire universe of mine- http://8tracks.com/holding-out-for-a-hero/collections/recipe-for-disaster-universe

It was a cold London morning and for some reason, the weather felt like it was reflecting my own misery. It was my first day at a new school, and I was not the least bit excited. For most of my wizarding schooling, I had attended a little known academy in New York, where the student population was roughly 400. I had built my entire life there, I had built the beginning of my quidditch career there. 

All of that had been uprooted when my father decided that I needed to finish my schooling in a school of relative repute. And of course, that school was Hogwarts, which was the best known wizarding school in the world.

I probably sounded really spoiled as I whined about going to a new school, but all I could think of was how I’d be joining Hogwarts in my 5th year, when everyone would have already made their own circles.

The only thing I was even slightly excited about was their quidditch teams, and I hoped I would be able to become a part of one so I could fly again. I had also heard a lot about the quidditch scene in Europe and how it was much more competitive than the scene in America. 

However, as I stood alone on the platform, staring at the red train, I couldn’t help but wish I could go back home.

“I know this is hard, sweetie, but you need to make your new home there. I know you’ll find something worth staying for.”

Those had been my mother’s words to me as I boarded the plane to England with my father. He had work with the ministry so he simply dropped me to the platform and disapparated. 

My father seemed rather detached at times, but he was just really awkward. My father just wasn’t able to express emotions without being awkward about it, and my mother was the complete opposite. He constantly told me that it was her feisty nature that attracted him to her. I’m a lot like my mother that way. I tend to express myself a lot, and I also tend to get into fights and arguments easily.

I didn’t have too much luggage since my mother had put a spell on my purse so that it could carry all my stuff and not weigh much at all. It was a rather handy trick my mother had learnt when she was backpacking through the States. 

 

I let out a soft sigh and entered the train, ignoring the families around me, and headed straight to the first empty compartment I found. I had kept my copy of very old copy of Quidditch through the Ages on the top so I could do some general reading. My father had also given me a book about Quidditch strategy just because I was rather interested in that aspect of Quidditch. Back home, it was common knowledge I was going to be school captain. Now that all of that was uprooted, it looked like I had to start from scratch.

 

As I opened the book to start reading, three girls entered. 

 

"Hey! Do you mind if we sit here?" said the dark skinned one in a thick British accent.

 

I nodded, awkwardly smiling.

 

"I'm Alicia Spinnet and this is Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson," she said cheerfully.

 

"Nice to meet you," I said, my smile becoming slightly more confident. "I'm Erica Sanders."

 

"You're new here, aren't you? You ready for school?" Katie said sweetly.

 

"Not really, no. I am looking forward to Quidditch though. I don't know which house I'll be in, but I hope I get onto their team." 

 

“Oh wow! You play quidditch? We do too! We’re all chasers on the Gryffindor team! Which year are you in?” Angelina said, perking up a bit.

 

“Yeah, I used to play quite a bit back in New York. I’m in my fifth year now. If I was still in my old school, I would have been School Captain. I can more or less play any position I want, since school encouraged us to learn and perfect all our quidditch skills. Is it different here?” I asked, slightly confused at the looks of mild awe on the faces of these girls.

 

“Yeah, we only play one position,” said Katie with a bright grin. “Which house do you want to be in?”

 

I shrugged indifferently. “As long as I’m not in Slytherin, I’m fine. I have heard too many stories about that house. I’ve also heard absolute crap about their quidditch team, and I’d rather not get into a team where everyone is an absolute prat. Is it true that the entire selection process runs on sexism?”

 

Alicia snorted. “I’m not sure, but they’ve had an all boy team for quite a long time. I’ve never even seen a female player in their ranks.”

 

“I hope you get into Gryffindor!” said Angelina with a grin. “That would be amazing! We’re actually down a seeker, since our previous captain and seeker just graduated. We’ve got a new Captain this year too.”

 

“Oh god, Oliver Wood. Don’t get me started on that boy right now,” said Alicia with a laugh, “Apparently he’s gone absolutely bonkers. We’re all going to die. He’s gone through millions of parchments with his plans for us.”

 

I was a little confused for a moment. I had no clue who this boy was.

 

Little did I know, that this year, my life would become annoyingly intertwined with his.

 

 

* * *

 

The three Gryffindors were kind enough to guide me to the Great Hall for my Sorting ceremony, after which they went to what appeared to be their table. I was slightly uncomfortable because of the uniform (my old school didn’t have one and I was allowed to wear jeans as much as I wanted) and the stares I was getting from all the tables. Evidently, it wasn’t often that someone joined so late.

 

“You look too old to be a first year,” said a slightly know-it-all voice that reminded me of my best friend, back at home. I grinned at the eleven year old girl sitting next to me, taking in her haughty look and bushy hair. It was obvious that the girl was as nervous as I was.

 

“I’m a transfer. I studied at New York Institute of Magical Studies before this. My dad decided I needed to complete my schooling in a better known place,” I replied, and she nodded.

 

“I’ve read about that place. Is it true that the potions department is the best in the world?” she said, her eyes lighting up.

 

I shrugged easily. “I haven’t really had anything to compare it to, in all honesty. By the way, I’m Erica Sanders. What’s your name?”

 

The girl seemed to slowly be warming up to me and getting less and less nervous.

 

“Hermione Granger. I’m awfully nervous about this whole thing. What if they decide I’m not magical enough?”

 

“It doesn’t work like that, don’t worry,” I said, feeling a stab of sympathy for the girl. She was evidently a muggleborn and probably had no idea how things worked here. I got that feeling as well, since I was in a new country and in a new school.

 

“What house do you want to go to?” she asked.

 

I gazed thoughtfully at the tables.

 

“I made a couple tentative friends in Gryffindor, and I’d rather not be a Slytherin. I wouldn’t mind Ravenclaw though.”

 

“I’m leaning towards Gryffindor and Ravenclaw as well,” she said, looking adorably relieved, when a lady with greying hair that was probably auburn when she was younger stood on the dias. There was a stool with a hat on it and I sighed.

 

It looked like the Sorting was going to start now. Next to me, Hermione clammed up and watched as one by one all the kids were called till her name.

 

I gave her an encouraging smile and she went to the hat. Mere seconds after, it shouted “GRYFFINDOR!”.

 

The house in question applauded cheerfully.

 

I was soon one of the few people left at the table when Harry Potter stepped to the hat. Like everyone else, I was interested in the boy. He seemed like any other kid at this table, and really innocent and confused at that. He seemed like a genuinely sweet boy. He was sorted in Gryffindor as well. 

 

There were just a few other students before my name was called. I stood and walked to the stool. I could hear Angelina whisper-yell a good luck. I breathed in deeply and sat on the stool before the hat was slipped over my head.

 

Well, well, well. Two in a year. You’re very fond of quidditch aren’t you?

 

Yes, I am. Please, just put me in a house with a decent team. Anything but Slytherin.

 

I think you’d eat the Slytherins for lunch, Miss Sanders. I’ll do you one better.

 

RAVENCLAW!

  
  


I was kinda sad I wasn’t in the same house as the trio I had met, but looking at the table of blue and silver, I felt an odd sense of contentment rest in my chest.

 

I had no clue what the Sorting Hat had meant, but I hoped it was good.

 

I took a seat at the table, and when the food finally appeared, I dug in.

 

“Ahem, Miss Sanders,” said a voice behind me.

 

I turned to see a rather short professor.

 

“I’m Professor Flitwick,” he said, in a squeaky voice.  “I’m the head of Ravenclaw and I wanted to have a small chat with you if you’re done with dinner.”

 

“Um, of course Sir,” I replied, confused. The people around me continued to pretended they weren’t listening.

 

I quickly shoved the last of my dinner in my mouth and followed Flitwick to his office. I stared at the various empty classrooms we passed, nervous as hell.

 

“Have a seat, Miss Sanders. You’re not in trouble,” he said, as we entered what appeared to be his office.

 

I took a seat and he sat in his.

 

“I’ve heard that you were going to become the captain of your quidditch team back in your old school?” he said, looking down at me kindly.

 

I nodded. “Yes sir. I was thinking of joining the Ravenclaw team.”

 

“Very good, very good,” he said, nodding repeatedly. “That is actually why I wanted to talk to you.”

 

I felt really worried all of a sudden. What if he told me I couldn’t try?

 

“Our previous captain didn’t exactly leave much of a team for us to work with. And no one has really shown the capability of being a good Quidditch Captain in our house either. Right now, we only have two beaters, and both of them do not want the position- Jason Samuels and Duncan Inglebee. Both had agreed that offering you this position would probably be the best idea at this point,” he said.

 

I couldn’t believe my ears. Was he seriously offering me the chance to actually achieve my dreams?

 

“Are you….are you seriously giving me the position?” I stammered in confusion.

 

“We’ve done extensive research on you, Miss Sanders and have conversed with your old school as well. You are exactly what Ravenclaw needs right now.”

 

I continued to stare at Flitwick for a moment before a huge grin spread on my face.

 

“Thank you! Thank you! I won’t disappoint you sir!”

 

Flitwick laughed and ushered me to the door.

 

“Ah, Mr. Samuels! There you are! Come here and take Ms. Sanders to the dorms! She has agreed to take the captaincy!”

 

I saw a tall blonde boy jogging towards us, an easy grin on his face. From his body type, I could tell he was a rather decent beater, and my mind already went straight to moulding him into an amazing one. 

“Before you go, Ms. Sanders, take your time table for this year. I am sure you will do incredibly well in your studies.”

 

“Of course sir,” I said, nodding.

 

As Jason took me towards the staircase, I looked at the paper.

 

“Hey, Jason. Are you a fifth year as well?”

 

“Yup! I’m looking forward to classes, but honestly, I just want a good season of quidditch, you know?”

 

“Oh god, same. I was so annoyed with my dad for making me shift here when everyone would already have their own circles and all that.”

 

“Eh, don’t worry about it. The Claws are usually quite nice. And hey, you have me and Duncan. And soon, the rest of our new quidditch team.”

 

“We’ll have to make flyers and all that as quickly as possible,” I said, thoughtfully and was soon pulled into a heated discussion about the merits of flyers versus actual talks.

 

 

* * *

 

Jason dropped me off at the base of the staircase after explaining to me the general rules of the school and promising me he’d take me to the Great Hall in the morning.

 

I climbed up the stairs till I found the fifth year dorm. I was incredibly nervous, because while Jason and I had hit off immediately, it wasn’t necessary the same would happen with the girls of my dorm.

 

I opened the door to see four beds that were neatly made. Three of them were occupied and the fourth appeared to be mine.

 

“Hey! You must be Erica!” said a voice and I finally noticed a slightly shy looking auburn haired girl and a brunette standing by my bed.

 

I  smiled at them, unsure of what to do.

 

“I’m Trisha Montgomery and this is Emily Blackwater. We’ll be your dorm mates for the rest of your time in Hogwarts,” said the shy looking girl, Trisha. 

 

“There’s one more- Leah Smith- but she’s currently off with her boyfriend.”

 

“Its nice to meet you guys. I was really nervous I’d end up with dorm roomies I couldn’t stand and who couldn’t understand me.”

 

“Ah, we Claw girls stick together, man,” said Emily with a laugh. 

 

“You need help unpacking?” asked Trisha in a soft voice.

 

“Oh, unpacking shouldn’t be an issue,” I said, waving my wand at my purse and one by one all my stuff unpacked itself and organized itself.

 

“You have got to teach me that spell,” said Emily, with a sense of awe. “I can never pack my bag or unpack it with ease.”

 

“Sure,” I said, grinning. “My mum taught it to me.”

 

“So,” said Trisha, sitting on what appeared to be her bed, watching my stuff fly into place with a look of fascination. “Are you excited for this year? I heard they’ve made you the new captain.”

 

I nodded, my grin widening. “I was supposed to be School Captain back in my old school, and was incredibly disappointed when I had to come here. But maybe I could actually have fun here.”

 

Emily grinned. “Good luck with that. You only have Jason and Duncan right now, correct?”

 

I nodded, my smile falling a bit. 

 

“Do you reckon it will be hard to get people? I can basically play any position I’m needed to, so I’m planning on talking to Jason and Duncan about it.”

 

“I think Jason’s best friend Jeremy Stretton could be persuaded. And maybe Cho Chang?” offered Trisha, looking unsure.

 

“I’m sure Jason’s already starting to spread news of tryouts being soon,” said Emily encouragingly, and I nodded. Maybe with their help, I could spread the word amongst the girls. 

 


	2. And So It All Begins

My first week passed incredibly fast, and in no time at all tryouts had begun. I was standing with Jason and Duncan, both of whom I had become quite close to, while Emily and Trisha stood behind us to watch the tryouts.

 

A lot of people had actually turned up, and I immediately noticed 4 people I wanted on my team. My old Coach had taught me how to look at a person and tell what they were instinctually inclined to. I had always been most comfortable playing Chaser, though playing Seeker was a close second.

 

Jason and Duncan had agreed, however, that I should just play the position I was most comfortable playing. 

 

“Alright then! Welcome to the Ravenclaw House Quidditch Team Tryouts. Thank you so much for coming today! As you all know, I’m the new Captain, Erica Sanders and these are our Beaters Jason Samuels and Duncan Inglebee. We’ll be watching you all during the tryouts and try to pick the people best suited for the team. As much as I may want to, I can’t take all of you in, but I hope you’ll all come and cheer the team on!”

 

“You might wanna tell the Gryffindor Captain to bugger off,” whispered Duncan in my ear, subtly pointing out a lone figure in the stands, watching us.

 

“While we’re at it, could someone please tell Oliver Wood to bugger off. He already has his own team, so I’m unsure why he’s trying to spy on ours instead of working on his own,” I said, loudly enough for him to hear, eliciting a snort from the crowd. It seemed this was normal behaviour for the boy.

 

He seemed to hear me and lifted his arms in a way that said “alright, alright” and immediately left.

 

Beyond talking to the Chaser Trio, I had never really heard of the boy or even spoken to him. I was busy trying to settle in, so that was probably why. In fact, I had curiously not seen any of the other captains, though it was obvious that they were interested in me. It seemed as if they were watching me from afar for now.

 

Perhaps I was not quite a threat until I had a team. From what I had heard from Duncan and Jason, no one really thought I could do this, because Ravenclaw hadn’t shown much potential for a long time.

 

I watched as the people all arranged themselves based on the position they were trying out for. The three of us had a plan for the tryouts. We were first going to make them all fly a few laps. We had six possible Keepers, though I already had my eye on one of them. They were going to take their positions at the six rings, and all the chasers- a total of twelve of them- would have a go at them. 

 

However, they weren’t supposed to be focused on the same goal- each one was assigned a particular ring and keeper. They had to fly around to dodge the bludgers that the Beaters would be aiming at them, as well as score as many times as possible. 

 

While this was happening, the possible seekers- three of them- were to try and catch the snitch. The Beaters were supposed to try and stop them.

 

All four of us Claw girls would watch them from our position and choose the best of of them all.

 

It was a rather long and tedious process, but somehow we got it to happen. I kept my eyes on the Seekers while Jason watched the Keepers from his position on his broom.

 

One of the Seekers- Cho Chang- seemed to be the best in my eyes, and she proved it by catching the snitch first. The remaining two Claws left, slightly dejected, but happy for Cho nonetheless.

 

Trisha and Emily congratulated Cho, while Leah merely motioned for her to take a seat. Cho shyly smiled at me, and I gave her a distracted nod as I watched the Chasers now. Jeremy Stretton and Randolph Burrow both appeared to have the highest scores. It wasn’t particularly surprising to me, since I had known the moment I saw them that they were the Chasers we were looking for. 

 

As everyone slowly descended to the ground, Jason and Duncan both gave me their own sheets. I wasn’t surprised to find Randolph and Jeremy but I was surprised that Grant Page was on their list as the Keeper with the highest score. He was a second year and particularly large built. I would have assumed the boy would have been a Beater-inclined guy, but evidently, he was more skilled as a Keeper.

 

“Alright then! Thank you all for coming! The people who will be on the team this year are Cho Chang as Seeker, Jason Samuels and Duncan Inglebee as Beaters, Jeremy Stretton, Randolph Burrows and Erica Sanders as Chasers and Grant Page as Keeper. I hope you all come and cheer us on. Have a great day,” I said, and was met with polite claps as some of the guys cheerfully slapped a bewildered Grant on the back and Jeremy and Randolph did some odd sort of victory dance on the ground.

 

I grinned in a content sort of way.

 

I had my team.

 

Watch out Hogwarts. We were going to win this Cup.

 

 

* * *

 

Trisha, Leah and Emily were seated opposite to me while Jason and Duncan enthusiastically spoke over my head. Duncan was a dark skinned, muscular guy with a sort of wicked smile that promised dark and sinful things. He was the perfect other half of the Beater Duo because Duncan’s style complemented Jason’s in every way. We had become quick friends over an enthusiastic discussion about Potions.

 

Leah and I had met the night of my arrival and while we hadn’t hit off as quickly as Emily, Trisha and I had, we had slowly started to become good friends. Leah was my opposite in every way. She wasn’t particularly fond of Quidditch but knew quite a bit about it because her father was crazy about it. She was a rather pretty girl who seemed to keep to herself when she wasn’t with her friends or her boyfriend.

 

Jeremy and Randolph sat next to the girl, giving me two identical grins.

 

“Hey Cap, we got info for you,” they said together. 

 

Jeremy and Randolph had apparently grown up together. Jeremy was best friends with Jason but Randolph was his twin...in the non biological way. From what I had heard, they were comparable to the Weasley twins in Gryffindor, who were just as mischievous as these two. However, Jeremy and Randolph didn’t get caught, being the Claws they were.

 

“Give it to me,” I said, and smirked as Jason mumbled, “Uh huh, Uh huh.”

 

“Oliver Wood’s on the look out for you. He’s tried to get his Chasers to give him intel, but they’ve told him to mind his own business and leave you alone. But apparently he’s gone a bit crazy. You’re the only captain who he has no intel on. Flint isn’t too hard to get a read on considering he’s basically a human coconut. Diggory is way too sweet and will probably just tell you whatever you need to know. You, however, have eluded him- knowingly or not- and its frustrating him.”

 

I tilted my head in confusion.

 

“Should I be worried?”

 

“I think the only person in this school who takes Quidditch as seriously as you do is Oliver Wood,” said Duncan, with an easy chuckle. 

 

“So you should probably take that as - Yes. Be worried.”

 

“What are you trying to imply, Jason?” I said darkly, eliciting a small fearful whimper from the boy.

 

“Nothing at all. Its just that he takes his Quidditch super seriously. And that means he could try to….influence you and extract information from you.”

 

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re acting like I’ve never met a quidditch obsessed boy in my life. I’ve been around them for my entire life. I know exactly how to handle one,” I said, and Trisha shrugged.

 

“In all honesty, have you had to deal with one as fit as him?”

 

I was slightly confused for a moment, before Emily clarified, “And by fit, she means attractive.”

 

“I’ve never actually seen his face. I mean, he was at tryouts, but I shooed him away and he was too far away to actually see him face.”

 

All three girls stared at me in confusion.

 

“Erica,” said Leah, befuddled, “He’s in our year and he’s in our Transfigurations, DADA, Charms and History of Magic classes.”

 

“He literally sits in our row every day and constantly glares at you,” said Emily.

 

I shrugged. “In all honesty, the moment I’m in a class, I forget that there are people other than me and the teacher in the class. Except in Potions, when Snape gives me a partner.”

 

Jeremy snorted. “How many classes are you taking again?” 

 

“Astronomy, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, Runes, Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies. Oh, and I’m doing some of the extracurriculars too.”

 

“Jesus Christ, woman. That’s impressive even for a Claw,” said Randolph.

 

“Back home we had to have a minimum of three extracurriculars along with at least 9 subjects. The quidditch team in particular had to take 10. I was doing Ancient Studies and Magical Theory back home anyway, so it didn’t make sense to let go of those extracurriculars.”

 

“In all honesty, I can’t wait till I can finally let go of my subjects after the O.W.L.S,” said Duncan.

 

“You guys all know what you want to do?” I said, resting my head in my palm.

 

“I want become an Auror,” said Randolph. 

 

“Healer,” said Trisha.

 

“I’m not sure yet,” said Jason, and Duncan and Emily agreed with him.

 

“I’m probably going to work with the Ministry,” said Jeremy.

 

“I plan on working in Muggle Relations,” said Leah.

 

I nodded. It seemed as though their choices matched who they were. 

 

“Let me guess, you want to play quidditch,” said Jason, rolling his eyes.

 

I grinned easily. “Can’t imagine my life without it. I’ll obviously be doing something on the side- probably some consultant work with the Ministry in New York like my Dad or maybe even become a legal wizard like my mum.”

 

As we slowly started discussing life choices and our parents, I couldn’t help but feel like I had done exactly what my mother had told me I should do- find a new place to call home and a reason to stay.

 

 

* * *

* * *

 

Oliver Wood sat with his friends and glared at the Ravenclaw captain. Either she had no idea he was glaring at her or she was doing this on purpose.

 

“Mate, you need to stop glaring at Sanders. You do know she probably doesn’t care you want to make her go through an inquisition right?” said his roommate, Andrew Gates.

 

On his other side, Fred Weasley sniggered.

 

“I think she may be the only person in this school who is as quidditch crazy as Wood.”

 

“I know literally everything possible to know about Flint and his team. I know exactly what Hufflepuff’s weakness is. But this girl has given me absolutely nothing. I know her line-up but nothing about them. I know nothing about her,” Oliver growled to himself.

 

“Then get to know her,” said Percy, absent mindedly as he reached out for another chicken wing. “Girls like that sort of stuff right?”

 

Percy, evidently, had no idea what the discussion was actually about- which was usually the case. However, Oliver couldn’t deny that it was an incredibly good idea. She couldn’t be too different from other girls. As his previous girlfriends would agree, he was rather attractive, and his captaincy had just boosted his attractiveness in their eyes.

 

Maybe he could try and charm her into giving him details.

 

“I don’t like the look on his face,” said George. “Mate, I’d rather not die anytime soon, even by the hands of someone as pretty as Erica Sanders.”

 

Oliver looked at George like he had offended his very being.

 

He glanced at the Ravenclaw table where Sanders sat with what was her new friends. Suddenly, she looked away from the guy who was talking to her and looked straight at him. She had this sort of blank expression like she was processing something, and Oliver got the feeling she didn’t actually see him.

 

That thought was proven false when she pointed straight at him, and appeared to ask her friend something. The dark boy next to her whacked her hand down, looking at Oliver, slightly worried.

 

The girl shrugged disinterestedly and went back to her food.

 

From the amused look on the boys faces, Oliver could tell she had insulted him somehow.

 

Well, they wouldn’t be laughing at him for long.

 

“Whatever silly scheme you have in your head, Oliver,” said Katie, “Let go of it. That girl seems sweet and innocent, but she is an absolute monster when provoked.”

 

Oliver tried his best to give his best friend his most innocent face, but she wasn’t buying it. She leveled him with an unimpressed look that reminded him eerily of his older sister.

 

“Alright, alright. You know, I wouldn’t be scheming if you girls would just tell me about her.”

 

Angelina snorted prettily. “You know what? Why don’t we do this? We’ll introduce you to her.”

 

Alicia looked up from her food, slightly alarmed.

 

Angelina’s lips stretched into a sinister grin. “That girl will be able to handle him and anything his brain thinks up.” 

 

Oliver knew he was pouting. “You’re my ruddy quidditch team. Shouldn’t you siding with your captain?!”

 

The entire team gave him smarmy grins. Except for Harry, who was seated far away with his friends.

 

“You’re all horrible people. I hope you all know that.”

 

 

* * *

 

After dinner, I was walking back from the Great Hall alone, having left my new friends to quickly make a run to the library where I had borrowed a copy of A History of Magic. It was technically a first year book, but I had learnt fairly quickly in History of Magic that I knew more about the History of Magic in the Americas than in Europe, which was fairly more vast. 

 

America’s History in relation in connection to Magic was abysmally small, given the fact that the main historical event we had was the Salem witch trials. Most of the time, we studied about the covens in the South. Witches and Wizards in America were very different from the ones in England.

 

The witches and wizard were usually part of governing covens. Now, it was a dying practice, given the fact that we were now adopting England’s structure and establishing a Ministry of our own.

 

However, before this, we were mainly governed by our personal covens, who were in turn governed by the Alpha coven.

 

I made a quick turn down a corridor, only to bump into Alicia and Katie.

 

“Hey!” I said, grinning, and they grinned brightly in reply.

 

“Hey Erica! Where are you coming from?” Katie asked, before spotting my book.

 

“Oh, the library. My knowledge of the History of Magic in Europe is abysmal at best. At home, we focused on the Americas and in fifth year, we were supposed to specialize in other areas. So I thought I’d do some catching up.”

 

Alicia chuckled. “Such a Ravenclaw.”

 

“Thanks,” I said, laughing easily.

 

“So how goes the quidditch team?” asked Katie.

 

“Fairly good, I think. We all know each other now. That’s the basis of a proper dynamic, right?” I said, with a shrug. “The boys made a point to warn me about your psychotic captain.”

 

Alicia sniggered. “Speaking of our psychotic leader.”

 

I turned to see a fairly tall boy with light brown hair and and brown eyes making his way towards us. Evidently, this was the ever-so-fit Oliver Wood. I could see that, in an abstract sort of way, he was attractive. However, I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed.

 

“All that build-up for nothing,” I mumbled, and Alicia looked at me, slightly confused.

 

“What?” she said.

 

I shook my head, shrugging slightly.

 

“Apparently you’ve got quite a few admirers,” I said calmly to the boy, who raised an eyebrow in a slightly cocky way.

 

“I like to think so,” he said. “Why? You one of them?”

 

Alicia and Katie groaned next to me.

 

I felt a wave of annoyance rush through me. If there was one thing I could not stand, it was cocky assholes.

 

“Not particularly, considering I didn’t even know what you looked like until now.”

 

“I’m in half your classes,” he said, frowning slightly. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought he was glaring at me.

 

I merely shrugged. “I’m personally trying to catch up with the whole….British-ness of the academics, in all honesty. The people in the class tend to fade away when I try to focus.”

 

The boy evidently didn’t like the fact that I had zero interest in him, and basically looked like he was going to blow his top.

 

Alicia was leaning on Katie, sniggering uncontrollably while Katie had covered her mouth in ill-concealed mirth.

 

“Now, as lovely as this has been...Wood, right? Well, anyway, see you around. I’ve gotta go to the common room now.”

 

And with that, I left the three there, making my way to the Ravenclaw commons, but not before I heard Alicia shriek in laughter, “She was so unimpressed with your attempt at seducing her!!”

 

I smirked. I always had liked antagonizing my opponents. Perhaps Wood would be an amusing, if not worthy, opponent.

 

“You look far too happy,” said Jason when he saw me come into the common room.

 

“I finally met Oliver Wood.”

 

“And?” said Emily, who was sitting in one of the comfy sofas near the fireplace.

 

“Rather disappointed,” I said, with a smirk, earning a hoot of laughter from Duncan.

 

“Please tell me you told him that!”

 

“I may have implied it.”

 

Randolph shifted his legs so I could sit, patting me on the head proudly. 

 

Jeremy sniffled as he said, “Our baby’s growing up.”

 

“You guys are ridiculous,” I said, whacking the boy with my book.

 

“But in all honesty,” said Jason, “How did he react?”

 

“He may have glared,” I replied, feeling incredibly proud of myself. The guy had seemed like an absolutely twat. He seemed to think way too much of himself, and people like that automatically made my bitchy side rise up to fight.

 

“You like that. Having someone to compete with,” said Emily, smiling slightly.

 

I nodded. “Back home, I had always competed with my best friend. But here, I’ve not really found someone to compete with. Or rather than compete, I should say that I need someone to be my rival.”

 

“Oh god, you’re one of those aren’t you,” said Leah, making a face.

 

“Hmm?” I said, and Leah shook her head.

 

“You’re one of those people who don’t feel like they’re living if they’re not competing.”

 

“I blame my mom and dad,” I said easily, sniggering with Jason.

 

Leah rolled her eyes.

 

“Honestly, I should not be saying this, but I really want to see how things between you and Oliver play out.”

 

Emily snorted. “Please, lets be honest. That’s probably the most interesting thing that’s going to happen this year.”

 

“Glad to be of service,” I said absent-mindedly as I opened my book. Maybe I could get some reading done.

 

 

* * *

 

The next morning, I went for my customary morning jog and noticed the Gryffindor team practicing. I had made a point to not schedule my practices on mornings. I usually got up before everyone else, and had learnt very quickly that all my friends were rather slow in the morning. I knew that they wouldn’t be coming to the early breakfast so I decided that I’d probably go sit with the Gryffindor chasers for a change.

 

After a nice, long bath, I greeted a very sleepy Cho Chang and Grant Page, who were both trying their best to write what looked like a potions essay, before I made my way to the Great Hall.

 

Not many people were awake at 6 o’clock on a Saturday morning, so the Great Hall was rather empty. Except for a rather ragged looking trio. I tried my best to not snigger at the way Katie was sleeping on her plate.

 

“Seems like you had a good session,” I said as a greeting, and Alicia and Angelina glared at me.

 

“We saw you running, you monster.”

 

I shrugged, sitting between them. “I like running. Its become a habit now.”

 

At that very moment, the boys of the quidditch team entered. Fred and George Weasley looked a little worn out, Harry looked adorably confused and Oliver was glaring.

 

“If you’re out for Quidditch secrets, you’ve got another thing coming Sanders.”

 

I raised an eyebrow. “Unlike you, Wood, I prefer to play my games without spying or following people around. In fact, I’ve adhered to that to the point that I don’t even know what the Hufflepuff and Slytherin Captains look like.”

 

“That could also have a lot to do with the fact that you forget that people exist sometimes,” said Katie from her makeshift pillow.

 

I shrugged. “Maybe. Hello Weasley and Weasley. Potter.”

 

“Hi,” said Harry shyly as he took a seat between the twins.

 

I couldn’t help the small, motherly smile that stretched itself on my face before looking at the twins.

 

They both looked to beaten down to really care. Wood was still glaring at me.

 

“Are you done staring at me, Wood?” I said, making Alicia and Angelina snigger.

 

“You’re going down, Sanders.”

 

“I look forward to it,” I said, grabbing a large helping of bacon and some fried egg. 

“Jesus woman,” said one of the twins. “You eat more than us.”

 

“I’m a growing girl,” I said.

 

The other twin leered at me. “Don’t think you need to grow anymore, Sanders.”

 

“Little ears, boys,” I said, pointing at Harry who looked adorably embarrassed.

 

“Why are you even awake this early,” mumbled Katie.

 

“Is that a question or a statement,” I replied, grabbing a breakfast roll.

 

“Erica!” yelled someone and I turned to see Jason flailing frantically as he ran towards me.

 

“Hurry, hurry!”

 

“What the fucking hell is more important that my fucking goddamn bacon, Samuels?” I growled.

 

The twins snorted.

 

“Remember that thing Randolph, Jeremy and I told you about and you said you’d never tell a soul?” said Jason, breathing heavily.

 

“Yes?” I said, remembering a conversation we had three days ago. Apparently the boys were planning a gigantic prank on the Slytherins.

 

“Well, um… it didn’t exactly go according to plan and we may have some...slightly homicidal individuals after us.”

 

I rolled my eyes, slightly exasperated, while the three chasers sniggered. Wood looked very amused at something behind Jason and I realized that there were three unknown Slytherin boys approaching us.

 

“Samuels!” roared the middle one.

 

“Jesus on a pogo stick,” I mumbled, and stood up.

 

“Move it, woman!” said the middle one, who appeared to be the leader.

 

“No thanks. I think I should probably stay between you for the sake of both our houses not losing points. Oh! There’s a prefect!” I said cheerfully, efficiently distracting him from the boy who had efficiently climbed under the table.

 

“Where?” he said, looking around, but there was no one.

 

“Oh, whoops. Sorry, I’m still quite unsure of who is who.”

 

“SAMUELS!” bellowed the boy, efficiently deafening me, and since he was unable to see him, started to head over to the Ravenclaw table.

 

After two second, the twins sniggered. “What did you do?”

 

“We charmed their entire dorm and their toilets to do...certain things.”

 

“Where the fuck are Randolph and Jeremy?” I said, sitting down, thankful I wasn’t wearing a skirt since I was sure Jason’s head was near my foot.

 

“Hiding somewhere.”

 

‘You mean somewhere more efficient than under the Gryffindor table? Does such a place exist?” I said sarcastically, earning a swipe at my shins from the boy. I kicked what felt like his head.

 

“Ouch! Jesus, woman! Can’t you fucking be gentle?”

 

“My old captain always did feel annoyed that I could easily defend myself but was not a good beater.”

 

Angelina laughed. “Did your old school actually encourage your...everything?”

 

I grinned back. “Not the school. My captain. Derek always liked it when the women on his team could hold their own.”

 

“Is Derek cute?” said Alicia, perking up.

 

I shrugged. “Considering he’s my god-brother, I don’t think I could ever see him as anything but an amoeba. But yes, he’s an attractive amoeba.”

 

I pulled out my locket to show them my picture of Derek and I. I was standing next to him in my quidditch gear, grinning from ear to ear. He was a tall and heavy built, with dark hair framing a chiseled face. 

 

“Oh, he’s gorgeous,” said Alicia, “No wonder your expectations are so high.”

 

“When have we ever actually discussed my expectations?” I said, confused, while the entire table sniggered. Except Harry and Wood.

 

“You know what they’re talking about Potter?” I said, and the little boy shrugged. 

 

“O-out of curiosity,” he said to Jason, “would you happen to have made those adaptations to the first year dorm?”

 

“Oh, yes. Malfoy is wailing about telling his father.”

 

I grinned. “Well done, Jason. You have some purpose, it seems.”

 

“Fuck you, you annoying bint. I’m not taking you to Hogsmeade.”

 

“Okay,” I said, shrugging. “Jeremy and Randolph are taking me anyway, so it doesn’t really matter if you come.”

 

“Stop stealing my friends!” he whined, much to the amusement of the group.

 

“Dear Merlin,” I mumbled. “How did I become friends with all the insane Claws?”

 

“Because you’re half-mad yourself,” said Wood, and smirked when I glared at him.

 


	3. An Enemity Begins

“Okay guys, I’ve got to go. Madam Hooch called the captains for a meeting,” I said, quickly putting away my books.

 

“Have fun. You’ll finally get to see who the other captains are,” said Emily with a snigger, and I flipped her off, before heading out to the Quidditch pitch. I ended up arriving at the same time as the other three captains.

 

“Ah, there you all are,” said the short woman with spiky, grey hair. “I hope you’ve all been preparing well.”

 

The boys grunted and I just smiled at the woman, who seemed to be used to this sort of response. 

 

“As usual, I expect all of you to have clean matches,” she said, glaring at Flint, “and try to have fun, instead of trying to crush each other.”

 

I gave her an astounded look, which she seemed to find very amusing. What was the fun in Quidditch if you didn’t destroy someone?

 

The rest of the instructions seemed to be more for my sake, since she was telling us the timings of the matches, which apparently never really changed. 

 

“Alright, you four. Off you go now,” she said, and we slowly started moving towards the castle.

 

“Who is she kidding?  I guess we can just assume Ravenclaw’s going to fail,” said the Slytherin captain, leering at me.

 

I glared at him. “Any intelligent man would hold back his judgements before they saw proof. But I can’t really expect much from a Slytherin who probably has the brains of a Troll.”

 

“What did you say, bitch?” said Flint, stepping forward. I held my ground.

 

“Sexist assholes like you barely bother me, because evidently you’re compensating for your lack of intellect and your pitifully lacking quidditch team.”

 

“I’ll have you know that the Slytherins have won the house cup for the past 6 years!” said Flint, proudly.

 

Diggory, who seemed like an absolutely kind boy, said, “In all honesty, I think Flitwick wouldn’t have given Erica captaincy if she wasn’t capable of handling it.”

 

I smiled at the boy, but my smile faded when Wood said, “Please, they were desperate. There’s no other actual reason for them to give captaincy to someone who has never played in Hogwarts in her life.”

 

I growled. “Oh, because there is no other school on this planet that plays quidditch? I’ll have you know that I was one the best chasers in the States. My records are unbeaten.”

 

Oliver snorted. “Please, Sanders. Have you seen yourself? You’re half our size. What could a little girl like you do?”

 

I felt rage flash through my body. I knew Wood had three lovely girls on his own team, who were brilliant players, and he was probably only being an asshole because he wanted to get a rise out of me. But I had been faced with sexist assholes like these two my whole life, telling me to take up a more feminine pastime, to let go of Quidditch. Derek trained me and moulded me into one of the best players in the United States of America. I wasn’t going to let a Scottish prat and a Slytherin troll get the better of me.

 

“Oh, I don’t really think you can say much about being able to play, Wood. Considering you lost to Slytherin repeatedly. Where’s all that Gryffie strength that you prats always go harping on about?”

 

“Oi, lay off my house. We’re ten times better than you’ll ever be!”

 

“I think we can let our performance on the Quidditch field be the judge of that,” I said, twirling around and whacking both Flint and Wood in the face with my hair before storming off.

 

I was going to get great pleasure out of destroying him.

 

This was war.

 

I was still in quite a state when I entered the Ravenclaw dorm. 

 

Jason immediately realized something was wrong.

 

“Erica?” he said, questioning.

 

“Team meeting. Now.”

 

 

* * *

 

“He said WHAT?” said Jeremy, moving as to get up.

 

“Forget whatever you plan on doing to the boy,” I said, and the team looked at me as if I was crazy. I smirked darkly.

 

“We’re not going to prank the prat. That’s not going to prove anything to this fucking school. They forget that we’re Claws for a reason.”

 

Randolph grinned. “So how are we destroying them?”

 

Grant shakily raised his hand.

 

“Yes, sweetheart?” I said, and he seemed to calm down.

 

“Um, are we going to destroy them at quidditch?”

 

I laughed. “Exactly, Grant. That’s one part of it, yes. We, as a team, are going to give those Gryffies such a thrashing they’ll never doubt us again. I say Gryffies because in all honestly, once I’m done with you guys, Slytherin and Hufflepuff won’t stand a chance.”

 

“Part of it?” asked Cho, frowning.

 

“The rest is between me and Wood. I’m not going to let this school walk all over you guys. I wouldn’t be a good captain if I was okay with that. That’s why your part is only to do with Quidditch.”

 

“Whatever you have planned for Wood, we’re in,” said Jason, his eyes sparkling in rage.

 

I smiled.

 

“I’ll let you know when I need help.”

 

“Can we beat him up for the fun of it?” asked Randolph.

 

“I need him in working condition if I want to destroy his hopes and dreams.”

 

Jason grinned. “Have I told you that you’re beautifully sinister?”

 

I smirked, grabbing my Defense Against the Dark Arts text and shrugged.

 

“I try. You can all go now. I’ll tell you when I want you guys to come for practice.”

 

The others nodded and Jason decided to walk with me.

 

“What are you actually planning on doing though?” he said, once we were in the hallway.

 

“I’m going to let him sweat it out a bit, and then I’ll swoop in and attack.”

 

Jason grinned. 

 

“Come on, let’s hit the library and get that book we needed for Potions.”

 

“I’ve already written it,” I replied, grinning when the boy groaned.

 

“I really hate your efficiency sometimes,” he said, before running off to the library.

 

I made my way out of the castle, intending on finding a tree to study under. I couldn’t help but think about what the other captains had said. It was something I was used to, being a girl who took quidditch seriously, but I couldn’t help but think about how Derek would be disappointed that I didn’t punch them in the face.

 

Derek and I had grown up together, had been raised as brother and sister. I was his little brat. I would follow him around, even after he joined the quidditch team at school, and I had only joined the team because of the love for quidditch that he had infused me with. 

 

Derek didn’t let the fact that I was a girl hinder his training. There was one other girl on the team, and we were both treated the same way as the other guys by every captain, including Derek. So when I realized that Flint honestly thought I’d be a crappy captain, I couldn’t help but be enraged. 

 

As a pureblood, I had been told several times by family “friends” that I should take up more girly activities. This was, of course, added to by the fact that both my parents were rather influential people themselves and people had expectations of me. I could only be grateful that I had been raised to know that I had the right of choice, which the purebloods here evidently did not have.

 

I snapped out of my thoughts when I saw Hermione sitting alone.

 

“Oh, hey Hermione,” I said, smiling at her.

 

Hermione looked up, giving me a smile that immediately told me something was wrong.

 

“What’s wrong?” I asked, sitting next to her and she sighed.

 

“Its been a month now and I’ve not really managed to make any friends.”

 

I sighed, looking at the sky.

 

“That sucks. Why not?”

 

“I...Maybe my nerdiness and my know-it-all attitude made them dislike me.”

 

It almost sounded like she was quoting someone. I winced.

 

“I had a friend back home like you,” I said. “A lot of people thought she came off as...prissy? It was just that she was rather shy and prefered to hide behind her books instead of interact with the people around her. And when she tried to get out of her shell and help people with their academics, they thought she was saying she thought they were dumb. There’s nothing wrong with being knowledgable. There’s nothing wrong with being shy.”

 

Hermione sniffled. 

 

“Have you spoken to your dorm-mates?” I asked.

 

“Yeah. They...they’re kind of nice. But they’re already close.”

 

I hummed. “What about Potter? He seems like a nice guy.”

 

Hermione sighed. “He’s best friends with Ron Weasley.”

 

I grinned at the face she made at that. Evidently, she had an issue with Weasley and I had no doubt that it was mutual.

 

“Maybe he’s worth putting up with Weasley for?”

 

“They think I’m an annoying person.”

 

“In all honesty, Potter doesn’t seem like the type to judge too quickly. Except maybe Malfoy, but that guy’s a prat. If they don’t like you, then fuck them. You’re amazing and you shouldn’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

 

She looked at me, still sad, but a small smile formed on her face at my words.

 

“And hey, look at it this way. Tomorrow’s Halloween and I’ve heard that the Halloween feast is amazing!”

 

Hermione couldn’t help but laugh, and I grinned in relief.

 

 

* * *

 

“I’m so fucking excited for this!” said Leah, who had done up her hair in honour of the Halloween feast. Trisha and Emily had done the same, and I just watched them, amused.

 

“Aren’t you going to get ready?” asked Trisha and I shrugged.

 

“I am ready.”

 

“Nope,” said Emily, flicking her wand at me so that my light brown hair curled from its natural straight state.

 

“You can’t go down without at least some effort,” said Leah, shaking her head fondly at me.

 

I grinned back.

 

We started walking down. The boys were already at the hall so it was just us.

 

“So have you made plans for Wood?” asked Trisha, and I grinned.

 

“So many plans, so little time,” I said, waggling my eyebrows.

 

Emily grinned. “Its really sad that we’re so invested in this.”

 

Leah laughed. “It really is. I’ve been telling Jacob about you two so often, he’s worried for my sanity.”

 

Jacob was Leah’s boyfriend. They were really sweet and Jacob was a sarcastic little shit who was perfect for the honest, sugar-sweet Leah.

 

“What do you have planned though?” asked Emily, curious.

 

“Nothing. The boy gets so easily pissed off with my existence in general, it’ll be easy. He’ll pick a fight with me and I’ll fight. For now. Then BAM. I’ll attack when he thinks I’m laying low. And he’ll never expect it. I’ll be the most painful thorn in his backside.”

 

“It sounds so simple when it comes out of your mouth,” said Trisha, chuckling.

 

I grinned. 

 

“As Napoleon used to say, ‘Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake’.”

 

This made the girls laugh as we entered the Great Hall, and I frowned when I noticed that Hermione wasn’t there.

 

“One moment, I’ll be back,” I said to the girls, and made my way to the Gryffindor table, ignoring Wood, who had opened his mouth.

 

“Potter, where’s Hermione?” I said, and a guilty look passed over his face as he glanced at the red head across him. A haughty look appeared on the boy’s face and I had no doubt that this was Ron Weasley.

 

“What are you doing at the Gryffindor table, Sanders?”

 

I breathed deeply, trying to tell myself that hexing someone would not help.

 

“Not now Wood. I assure you, I have better things to do than entertain you right now. I’ll repeat myself, Harry,” I said, my tone changing when I spoke to Potter. “Where is Hermione?”

 

“I’m not really sure. Ron hurt her feelings when he said that no one could stand her and that she was a nightmare.”

 

“Harry!” whined the brat, and I silenced him with a stony look.

 

“And where is she right now?” I asked.

 

“We overheard one of the girls saying she was crying in the bathroom.”

 

“Sanders!” said Wood again, and I turned around, anger running through my veins. I was angry at Ron, who had been such an asshole to Hermione and Wood’s insistence that I pay attention to him was pissing me off more.

 

“What?!”

 

“I heard you’ve not even started practice,” he said, grinning. “Already given up, have we?”

 

I let out a growl while the twins groaned.

 

Before I could say anything, Professor Quirrell burst into the room.

 

“TROLL. TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!!!” he wailed, and the entire Great Hall fell into silence.

 

“Thought you should know,” he said, weakly, before fainting.

 

The entire hall erupted into madness and I turned back to Wood, but not before giving the unconscious Professor a weird look.

 

“Now listen here, Wood, you piece of Pixie earwax,” I started.

 

“Who the ruddy hell are you calling earwax, ya banshee?” he said, his Scottish accent becoming more prominent as our voices rose to be heard above the screaming and panic around us. 

 

“Naturally you, you absolute nincompoop,” I replied, glaring at him. 

 

“Don’t lash out at me because you can’t be a competent captain, lassie,” he said, stepping closer to me to avoid being elbowed.

 

“I’m not an incompetent captain,” I growled, stepping closer to avoid a flailing first year.

 

“You might as well give me the trophy.”

 

"I'd rather fall off the Astronomy Tower than ever let you win."

 

"At least my grandmother rides a broom better than you, Sanders."

 

“Um, guys? I think we need to leave,” said a voice.

 

“Shut up!” we both yelled, turning to the red haired prefect who looked absolutely terrified for a moment before covering it up.

 

“You guys can continue a little later. The Ravenclaws have already left, Sanders, so you’ll have to come to the Gryffindor Commons,” said the boy.

 

“But Percy! We can’t let a dratted Claw into our territory! Its treachery!” said Wood.

 

“Please, like your password is so hard to guess. What is it, Caput Draconis?” I said, rolling my eyes.

 

Both boys looked at me oddly. “How...how did you know that?”

 

I smirked. “Educated guess. We’re not all moron’s like you, Wood. Now, Percy was it? Shall we go?”

 

“I’d like all your belongings to turn into portkeys.”

 

“I’d rather listen to mandrakes than listen to your voice, Wood,” I said, and Percy stepped between us to avoid having another fight break out. He held on to Wood’s arm but didn’t touch me.

 

“Why does she have to come with us?” whined Wood, and I rolled my eyes.

 

“I’m a prefect, Oliver. Its my responsibility to ensure all students make it back safely. I’ve already notified the Ravenclaw prefects about this situation, so they’ve taken it into account,” said Percy, and I sniggered at the dark look Wood gave him.

 

“When did you even do that?” I said, frowning at him.

 

“When the two of you were angrily gazing into each other’s eyes,” he replied, drily, earning a dirty glare from both of us.

 

We had already made it to the portrait that I assumed was the entrance to the Gryffindor Common room, and I was surprised to realize that the entire house had actually followed us.

 

“Caput Draconis,” said Percy calmly, and I smirked at Wood, who merely glowered in return.

 

“Ms. Ravenclaw Captain!” said a voice as we entered and I stumbled slightly in surprised. Wood immediately grabbed my arm to steady me.

 

“Aw, how sweet!” said another voice, and we both turned to look at the Weasley twins, smirking at us.

 

“I do proclaim, Fred,” said the one that was obviously George by elimination, “I think our keeper’s finally found his chaser!”

 

“And a chaser has finally found her keeper,” said Fred in a high pitched voice, as they both sighed melodramatically.

 

“I think two beaters are going to meet their untimely death,” I said, growling. “Let go of me, Wood!”

 

Wood let go of my arm like I was on fire, and I glared at him.

 

“Oh come on, Sanders,” said Fred, draping his arm around me. “Our captain’s quite the catch.”

 

I snorted. “Yeah sure.”

 

“Hey!” said an outraged Wood, “I’ll have you know I’m the bee’s knees!”

 

"Bees don't even have knees. They have joint legs but no patella. What the hell are you off about?"

 

The twins burst into laughter, George draping his arm around me too so they could lean on me.

 

“Merlin,” said a new voice, “What’s a Claw doing in our common room?”

 

I turned to see a blonde, blue eyed boy, staring at me.

 

“Believe me, this is the last place I’d be caught dead.”

 

He grinned. “You must be Oliver’s Erica.”

 

“I’m not Wood’s anything,” I said, glaring at him too. “Are all you Gryffies weird?”

 

“I resent that,” said Katie, pulling me from the twins. “Erica, this is Andrew Gates. He’s Oliver’s roomie. Hey, are you staying here?”

 

“Apparently, trolls are something to be scared of here, so I think so.”

 

“Trolls are horrifying!” said Alicia, giving me a weird look.

 

“Once, some genius- meaning my stupid brother- let out the acromantulas the 3rd years were studying. It was all well and good till they decided to take over the fucking quidditch pitch. We had to cancel practice because they thought we were giant, juicy flies.”

 

“Of course  that’s what you’re bitter about,” said Angelina, rolling her eyes. 

 

“What do you mean it was all well and good?” said Gates.

 

“They didn’t really do much. Just got some idiots stuck to the wall. They tried to hex the poor things. Naturally they’d retaliate.”

 

“You’re absolutely barmy,” grumbled Wood, and I gave him an odd look.

 

“Um, what?” I said, confused. These Brits had the weirdest words.

 

“He means you’re absolutely mental,” said Fred helpfully, and I turned to Wood with a glare.

 

“At least I’m not a tosspot like you!”

 

“What do you mean I’m a tosspot?” yelled Wood.

 

“Oh god,” said Gates, having been exposed to our arguing for the first time.

 

“Yup,” said Angelina, but for me, they were all just background noise. I focused completely on Wood, my anger and frustration rising as we argued. 

 

“Why the hell do you have to ruin everything?” yelled Wood. “Why are you even here?”

 

I suddenly felt everything drop out from underneath me.

 

“Trust me,” I said, a dark smirk forming on my face. “I ask myself that every day.”

 

The look on his face, one of confusion, made me grin darkly.

 

“Honey,” my dad said, “We have an issue.”

 

“What is it Daddy? Are the negotiations not going as planned?”

 

“No. Someone who is dead set against the New York Ministry Development Plan is threatening to take your life.”

 

I gazed calmly at the boy, but I knew my hands were shaking. I was terrified, I was so damn scared. Daddy had told me Hogwarts was the safest place on this planet. Then why were there Trolls roaming the halls? How could he possibly be so sure that whoever was out to get me wouldn’t find me here?

 

“Erica,” said Alicia softly, reaching for me. “You’re shaking.”

 

“Don’t touch me. It’ll stop in a moment,” I said, physically trying to push off the imminent panic attack. I couldn’t stand the look of pity and horror on Wood’s face.

 

“I hope you’ll never do this again,” came a voice that I instantly recognized as McGonagall.

 

Harry, Hermione and Ron entered, small smiles on their faces though they all looked worse for wear. Hermione saw me and ran to hug me. 

 

“Erica! Guess what?” she said, grinning brightly, and I forced myself to give her an incredibly shaky smile.

 

“Miss Sanders,” said McGonagall, “The Headmaster would like to see you.”

 

“What did you do?” asked Hermione, worried.

 

“Nothing,” I said, smiling softly at her. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”

 

I didn’t bother saying goodbye to everyone else. Instead, I chose to quickly follow the woman out.


	4. Crazy Fits and "Temper Tantrums"

“Miss Sanders,” said Dumbledore with a kind smile. “Have a chocolate. It might help your nerves.”  
  
   
  
I nodded and took a small chocolate from the offered bowl, slowly sucking on it. I immediately felt the chocolate slowly calm me down with its bittersweet taste. The usual signals of  anxiety and panic I felt when I was going to have a panic attack faded away.  
  
   
  
Panic attacks were not something I was used to, but it happened enough that it frightened me. I knew my triggers, and I went out of my way to avoid them.  
  
   
  
It wasn’t like I had a full on panic disorder, I just had difficulty dealing with particular occurrences in my life, and my response to those things was panicking.   
  
   
  
“If you are feeling slightly better, Ms. Sanders,” said Dumbledore, “I think we must discuss the issue of your safety.”  
  
   
  
I nodded, my hands clenching in my lap.  
  
   
  
“Your father has, of course, informed me of the situation, but we’ve both agreed that you’re vigilant enough to not have any particular restrictions placed on you.”  
  
   
  
I nodded. I was well known in my coven for being the most paranoid witch in existence.   
  
   
  
“I don’t think you’ll need to worry too much. Hogwarts is the safest place for you right now.”  
  
   
  
“You just had a troll, which appeared out of absolutely nowhere, roaming your corridors. Forgive me if I’m a bit worried, Professor.”  
  
   
  
Dumbledore chuckled.   
  
   
  
“That is why I lay emphasis on it being safe for you. You’re more than capable of handling a few surprise creatures, Miss Sanders,” he said, his twinkling eyes focusing on me.  
  
   
  
I couldn’t help the small, pleased smile on my face. I knew I enjoyed being praised by my teachers, but it felt different when Dumbledore praised me. It almost seemed like he was taking me into his confidence.  
  
   
  
“I think the only thing you really need to worry about, at this point, is Oliver Wood taking you out with a Bludger.”  
  
   
  
I let out a surprised laugh at that.  
  
   
  
“The boy is far too incompetent to perfect the aim required for that, Professor.”  
  
   
  
He peered down at me, oddly amused, with a knowing smile on his face.  
  
   
  
“How are you liking your time here, Miss Sanders?”  
  
   
  
I looked at him, opening my mouth to tell him how much I missed home, when, suddenly, I realized I hadn’t felt homesick since I had started arguing with Wood. My eyes widened in astonishment, while Dumbledore chuckled.  
  
   
  
“You are very much your mother’s daughter. She used to, from what your father tells me, be very competitive. Lived and breathed competition. She never felt comfortable in a place where she wasn’t competing with someone.”  
  
   
  
“I don’t like where you’re going with this,” I said, glaring at him, much to his amusement.   
  
   
  
I knew how the story went. My father and my mother had spent the longest time as rivals, where he would just keep beating her and she would keep getting angrier, much to the amusement of my father. He always had a fond smile on his face when he told me the story of how Mum just decided to attack his face with hers one day.  
  
   
  
Hey, what can I say? Competition is sexy.  
  
   
  
Just not Wood.   
  
   
  
Dumbledore shook in silent laughter.  
  
   
  
“I suppose you should go back now, Miss Sanders. You can sleep in the Gryffindor dorm today. I’m sure your friends are there, waiting for your return.”  
  
   
  
“Of course, Sir. Thank you.”  
  
   
  
I made my way to the Gryffindor dorm, and was not surprised to find Katie waiting for me in the common room.  
  
   
  
“Erica! What happened?” she said.  
  
   
  
“Probably wanted to tell her what an obnoxious captain she is,” said Wood, and I immediately pulled out my wand, anger rushing through my veins. I had had enough of everything today. The troll had set me on edge and Dumbledore’s cryptic-ness hadn’t helped alleviate my worry.  
  
   
  
Wood was faster, whipping his wand out.  
  
   
  
"Expelliarmus!"  
  
   
  
"Is that the best you can do, you bloody moron? Aguamenti!" I said, deflecting his spell.  
  
   
  
“Guys, you really shouldn’t be…” said Katie, trying to stop us.  
  
   
  
“Get out of the way, Katie! If you wanted to see me wet, Sanders, you only needed to ask! Confrigo!" he yelled.  
  
   
  
“Oh my god, what are you two doing?” yelled a random person.  
  
   
  
“Shut up!” we both yelled. I let out a yelp as the wall behind me burst into flames.  
  
   
  
"Fucking hell! Diffindo!" I yelled, but in my leap to safety I lost my aim, the spell just making Oliver’s pants fall off.  
  
   
  
Neither one of us noticed the Head of Gryffindor entering the common room.  
  
   
  
"Seriously, Sanders. You really want to see me naked don't you? Everte Statum!" Wood yelled, and I flew backwards, almost hitting the flaming wall behind me.   
  
   
  
Wood looked absolutely horrified for a moment, the silence in the room ringing loudly in our ears. He moved forward to make sure I was okay, when we heard a voice that made the blood in our veins turn to ice.  
  
   
  
"OLIVER WOOD. ERICA SANDERS. JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK THE TWO OF YOU ARE DOING?" roared Professor McGonagall, and I shakily got up.  
  
   
  
“Professor…” started Wood, his eyes narrowing at Percy Weasley who stood behind her, looking absolutely terrified.  
  
   
  
“No, Mister Wood. Both of you, Headmaster’s office. Now.”  
  
   
  
“Aw, crap. I was just there!” I wailed. "Professor! He's the one who tried to hurt me! I only used defensive spells!"  
  
   
  
We both rushed to follow the angry woman out of the common room.  
  
   
  
"Quiet, Miss Sanders. Your parents have been called.”  
  
   
  
"Oh ruddy hell. Mum's gonna kill me,” said Wood, his face losing all colour at the thought of his mother being called in. I groaned.  
  
   
  
"Daddy's in Russia and Mum's with some unknown tribe is the Amazon. Who the hell did you call?" I said, frowning.  
  
   
  
"Your brother has been listed as your emergency contact, Miss Sanders."  
  
   
  
"Oh bloody hell. He’s never gonna let this go,” I said, absolutely horrified at the prospect of Derek coming to Hogwarts. “Professor, he’s going to kill Wood!”  
  
   
  
McGonagall made no indication of having heard me,calmly saying “Lemon Drops” to the Gargoyle in front of Dumbledore’s office.  
  
   
  
“You’re not going to have a captain! Who will I compete with now? Flint’s like a freaking coconut and Diggory is like a puppy!” I wailed.  
  
   
  
“That’s what you’re worried about?” said Wood, staring at me.“We could get expelled!”  
  
   
  
I felt the blood drain from my face.  
  
   
  
“Professor! You can’t expel me!” I wailed, the moment I entered Dumbledore’s room.  
  
   
  
There were two chairs already out for us.  
  
   
  
“What did you do, Miss Sanders,” he said, calmly, absolutely unaffected by the flailing on my part.  
  
   
  
“Wood was being a douchebag.”  
  
   
  
“Freaking tattletale.”  
  
   
  
“Shut it, Wood! This is all your fault!” I said, stepping towards him angrily.  
  
   
  
“How the hell is it my fault you have anger management issues?” said Wood, angrily as he stepped towards me, invading my personal space.  
  
   
  
“Oh god, its like Lily and James all over again,” muttered McGonagall, earning a small chuckle from Dumbledore, but no reaction from the two of us.  
  
   
  
“Erica, who the hell did you...hey! Get away from my sister!” said a voice, and immediately, I was pulled back by a man in a leather jacket, glaring at Wood. He was about a foot taller than me, with dark hair and hazel eyes. His stubble made him look like the kind of guy you did not want to mess with.  
  
   
  
“Oliver, what did you do?” said a new voice, and a very pretty lady came in, followed by a serious looking man. By the absolutely terrified look on his face, the two were his parents.  
  
   
  
“Wait, who did you kill?” said the man, holding me at arms length. “You don’t have blood on you. Erica, it's not even been a week.”  
  
   
  
“I think you’re confusing me with you again, Derek,” I replied drily. “Are we pretending you’re the responsible one between us?”  
  
   
  
“You’re as responsible as a rock,” grumbled Wood, earning a startled look from his mother, and amused look from his father, and a blank look from Derek.  
  
   
  
“Shut it,” I growled.  
  
   
  
“Who are you again?” asked Derek, forgetting his manners as usual.  
  
   
  
“Mr. Hale, we’ll clear everything up. Mister Wood, Miss Sanders, please take a seat,” said Dumbledore.  
  
   
  
“Sure thing,” I said, cheerfully. “Derek, take my seat. I’d rather not have you murder anyone.”  
  
   
  
“Is your entire family crazy?” said Wood, earning a sharp whack on the head from his mother.   
  
   
  
“Oliver, apologize.”  
  
   
  
Wood looked like he’d rather jump off a cliff. Before he could apologize, Derek shrugged easily.  
  
   
  
“More or less, yeah.”  
  
   
  
Both Mr. and Mrs. Wood looked at Derek like he had started growing mushrooms in a corner.  
  
   
  
“So what did our son do, Sir?” said Mr. Wood.  
  
   
  
“Hey! Why are you assuming its my fault?” said Wood, looking offended.  
  
   
  
I sniggered.   
  
   
  
“Actually, I’d like to ask them that. What happened?”  
  
   
  
I looked forward resolutely, glaring at the wood of Dumbledore’s desk.  
  
   
  
“Sanders had a freaking fit,” said Wood.  
  
   
  
“I had a fit?” I yelled. “You listen here, you flobberworm!”  
  
   
  
“Who the hell are you calling a flobberworm, you banshee?!”  
  
   
  
"I may be a girl, which you seem to think will hinder my abilities at Quidditch, but I'll always be a better captain than the likes of you!”  
  
   
  
“Oliver,” said Mr. Wood, and Oliver immediately sat down, glaring at Erica.  
  
   
  
“Now, why would that even come into question?” said Derek, his voice deceptively calm. “Erica’s one of the best chasers I know, and she knows exactly how to run a team.”  
  
   
  
“Derek, I don’t need you to fight my battles for me,” I said, and Derek looked at me.  
  
   
  
“Then why is he still standing here? Why isn’t he in your infirmary, nursing his wounds?”  
  
   
  
“I promised Mom that I wouldn’t actively kill people this year,” I said easily.  
  
   
  
"You could have bludgered him to death."  
  
   
  
"No Derek," I said, running my hand over my face, absolutely exasperated.  
  
   
  
"Why not? He's being a chauvinist douche!"  
  
   
  
"See, Derek," I said, patiently, "There happens to be this thing called being socially acceptable. Murder is not, under any circumstances, legal or socially acceptable."  
  
   
  
"While I truly enjoy listening to people plot my death," said Wood, "I was not the one who took the other's pants off."  
  
   
  
"You took his pants off?" said Derek, looking ridiculously amused.  
  
   
  
"Shut it, it was an accident! Wood, keep your mouth shut. Professor, can we please finish off with this so I can send this boy back to Germany?"  
  
   
  
"Why did you try to take his pants off, though?"  
  
   
  
"Look, I didn't want to kill him okay?"  
  
   
  
"And what did he do?"  
  
   
  
"Made the wall behind me burst into flames," I replied, smirking as Oliver got an angry whack from his mother again.  
  
   
  
"And you were the one concerned about his well being."  
  
   
  
I sighed, looking at Dumbledore for help, but he seemed too amused about this free show he was getting.  
  
   
  
“Like I said, I’m a responsible, upstanding citizen, unlike Wood.”  
  
   
  
This earned a snort from both Wood and Derek, and I glared at them.  
  
   
  
“Do you two have something share with the class?” I said, dangerously.  
  
   
  
“I’m just saying, love,” said Wood, smirking darkly at me. “We wouldn’t be in this office if you were responsible.”  
  
   
  
“You cast the first spell!” I yelled.  
  
   
  
“Ri-ri, I know you love competing with someone. Now, while I don’t think this one is even worth your time,” said Derek easily, looking slightly apologetic when he glanced at Wood’s parents, “I have no doubt that responsibility flies out of the window the moment you feel the need to prove yourself.”  
  
   
  
I grumbled. “You are dead to me, Hale.”  
  
   
  
He just laughed. “You love me.”  
  
   
  
Mr. Wood cleared his throat.  
  
   
  
“From what I’ve gathered,” he said, his deep voice calm and oddly warm,"Oliver and...Erica, was it?”  
  
   
  
I nodded, though I resumed glaring at Wood right after that.  
  
   
  
“Oliver and Erica seem to have had a misunderstanding of sorts. Perhaps its better for them to sort it out without our interference,” he said.  
  
   
  
“And without their wands,” said McGonagall from her place near the door.  
  
   
  
“The lack of a wand won’t stop Erica from punching him in the face if she gets too pissed off,” said Derek.  
  
   
  
Dumbledore smiled.  
  
   
  
“Yes, I suppose we should let them sort it out themselves. There is a Hogsmeade trip this weekend, correct?”  
  
   
  
Derek looked confused for a moment, but Wood and I nodded.  
  
   
  
“The two of you shall spend it together, then.”  
  
  
“WHAT?”  


* * *

  
  
AN- Sorry for the gap between this chapter and the last one. I've had tons of work piling up and Uni stuff to deal with. But thank you for reading and please do comment. :)  
  
I've written down almost the entirity of the first year, and since I'm now on break, you can expect me to update somewhat regularly. :P


	5. A Place To Call Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just realized I've been just posting here without my small AN. So, here goes. 
> 
> I've been seriously busy of late (though that really has no effect on this fic because its just going through edits now), because I'll be moving out of my house to the university I'm doing my Master's in. Its a huge worry for me, since I've lived at home, and am now 20, with no clue how "adulting" works, let alone what I may need living away from home.
> 
> So yeah, that's a pain. :P
> 
> In other news, I've finished this part of the story on my side. Its going through edits. My beta mentioned that it might be a good idea to spit it up into years, and I agree with her. :) So, what I'm not doing is three separate fics covering Harry's 1st, 2nd and 3rd years (which would be Erica's 5th, 6th and 7th). Originally, I was smashing them together, but it makes more sense to break it up now. 
> 
> I hope you will all love the fic (its been getting very kind messages over on FF) and will read and review! Thank you!

“Mummy’s boy,” I hissed at Wood, as we walked out of the office.

 

“Brother-complex,” he muttered back.

 

My brother walked behind us with Wood’s parents, having a cheerful discussion with them like he was not betraying me.

 

“So Derek, you’re with the Heidelberg Harriers?” said Mrs. Wood, brightly.

 

“Yeah. I would have joined an American team, but I thought it would be better to get some experience in another country.”

 

“What about you, Erica? What are you planning on doing? Any team in particular?” she said, smiling sweetly at me.

 

“Mum,” said Wood, looking quite horrified at the turn of events.

 

“Hopefully the Holyhead Harpies. Or, if I had to take an American team, then maybe the Sweetwater All-Stars or the Fitchburg Finches. But I’d prefer a team somewhere in Europe.”

 

“Oh that’s lovely!” said Mrs. Wood.

 

“Quite apt, given that in 1953, the Captain of the Harriers, Rudolf Brand proposed marriage to his opposing Captain, Gwendolyn Morgan, who subsequently concussed him with her broomstick,” said Wood, earning a glare from me.

 

“I dunno what you’re on about, Wood. I’m a paragon of virtue. I’d never hit someone for proposing to me.”

 

Both Wood and Derek sniggered at this, and I glared darkly as the two exchanged amused looks.

 

“Hey, in her defense. She wouldn’t concuss him. She’d hide his dead body in a muggle morgue,” said Derek.

 

“I’m not as odd as they say I am. Don’t believe a word they say,” I told Mr. Wood, who just grinned at me.

 

“You’ll be good for him,” he said, patting me on the head.

 

“Good for who?” I asked, puzzled, as Wood went ramrod stiff next to me and Derek howled with laughter.

 

“Oh, its nothing dear,” said Mrs. Wood. “Give Katie my love, yeah? I’ll see you some other time.”

 

“Bye, Mr. Wood! Mrs. Wood!” I said, smiling despite myself and whacked Derek on the head.

 

“Go back to Germany, you moron. And remember. I want to be introduced to your captain.”

 

“Yeah yeah,” said Derek, rubbing his head gingerly. “Jesus on a pogo stick. I shouldn’t have made you do strength exercises.”

 

As Derek made his way to the entrance, Wood and I turned to make our way back to the Gryffie commons, where I had permission to stay for the night.

 

“What do you want with the captain?” he asked, gruffly.

 

“He’s hot,” I replied, waggling my eyebrows at him.

 

Wood rolled his eyes. “So you find Germans hot?”

 

“No, just Captains in general. I figure I’d find Derek hot if we weren’t related and I didn’t think of him as the cockroach my parents begged me to take care of.”

 

Wood looked at me with an oddly unreadable look, before smirking.

 

“So you find me hot?”

 

“What? No!” I said, immediately feeling incredibly flustered. “Perhaps I should have specified. Competent captains.”

 

He grinned cheekily at me. “Sure, Sanders,” he said, an odd skip in his step.

 

I growled. “We were having what could have been a decent, non-hostile conversation and you just had to ruin it. I have no clue what Dumbledore is trying to achieve by making us go to Hogsmeade together.”

 

At the mention of our punishment, he groaned.

 

“Do you have any idea what this will do to my reputation?” he said, angrily.

 

“Fuck your reputation,” I said, glaring at him. “Do you have any idea how many IQ points I lose by merely breathing the same air as you?”

 

“You’re such a stuck-up bitch,” he growled into my face.

 

I snarled at him. 

 

“Better be a stuck up bitch, rather than be an asshole like you.”

 

“A hot asshole, you mean,” he said, smirking, completely disregarding the fact that we were standing so close that our legs were touching and I had to look up to speak to look at his face.

 

“There is nothing in the world that would make me think that you’re hot, Wood.”

 

“And you’re so sure about that,” he said, his brown eyes turning dark.

 

“Greater men have tried and failed. A little boy like you has no chance,” I said, a dark little smirk forming on my face.

 

“W-o-w.”

 

We both immediately looked to the portrait hole, where Fred and George stood.

 

“I have to say, watching you two makes me hot and bothered,” said George, grinning as I shuddered in disgust.

 

“The two of you are disgusting,” I said, making a face, moving away from Wood and through the portrait hole.

 

“Wood’s mum sends her love, Katie,” I told the girl waiting for me on the couch.

 

“Wow, Wood. You certainly move fast. Already meeting the in-laws, Sanders?” said Fred, as he and George dodged Wood’s punch.

 

“I have no idea how such a sweet couple could have created a monster like Wood,” I told Katie, an honest, genuine befuddled expression on my face.

 

“Just wait. Those two aren’t as sweet as they seem,” said Wood, darkly. “Just wait until my sister hears of this.”

 

“He’s just exaggerating,” said Katie, with a chuckle. “His sister is a darling.”

 

“Anyway, can we go to bed? I’m absolutely, ridiculously tired.”

 

Katie grinned, and led me to the dorm. Before I went up, I glanced at Wood.

 

“This isn’t the end of this.”

 

“Oh, I would hope not. I’ve still not beaten you,” he said, smirk in place.

 

I snorted.

 

“Keep dreaming, Wood. The day you beat me is the day I fall in love with you.”

 

“Is that a promise?” yelled Fred, laughing as Wood whacked him hard.

 

I rolled my eyes and followed Katie.

 

 

 

“Hey, Erica,” said Jason, swinging his arm around me as he caught up with me on our way to our Transfiguration class. “Is it true you got into a duel with Wood?”

 

“Yeah, I guess. We got taken to Dumbledore. Speaking of which, I can’t come with you guys to Hogsmeade. Dumbledore’s idea of a punishment,” I said.

 

“What!” he said, surprised. “He’s not letting you go?”

 

“What? No! He’s letting me go, he just wants me to..um,” I said. 

 

“He wants you to what?” Jason asked, curiously.

 

“He wants her to go with me,” said a voice behind us and we both jumped.

 

“Oh, hey Wood,” said Jason, and I glared at the boy.

 

“Hello, Samuels.”

 

“But seriously?” said Jason, grinning in amusement. “He wants you two to go to Hogsmeade together?”

 

I sighed. “I think he has this notion that we’ll just magically become friends.”

 

Wood groaned. “This is like my worst nightmare.”

 

“Dream about me often, do you?” I said, drily, earning a glare from the boy and a snigger from Jason as we made our way to our desks.

 

“Its like watching two people making out,” mumbled Gates from behind Wood, as he followed him to their seat and Jason and I sat in our usual table.

 

“Where are the others?” I asked Jason.

 

He shrugged, just as the rest of our group stumbled in. 

 

“I heard that you had a duel with Wood! Is he alive?” asked Emily, eyes wide.

 

“I sitting right here, Blackwater. Thanks for the vote of confidence,” said Wood from his seat.

 

I grinned. “It should mean something, Wood. Everyone seems to know I’m better than you.” I turned away from Wood, smirking as I said, “His parents automatically assumed it was his fault.”

 

Wood glared darkly at me. “I am going to kill you.”

 

“I hope you’re both done with your... insolent flirting,” said a voice behind us, and we turned to see McGonagall hiding a smile behind Snape, who looked like he was incredibly displeased.

 

“Professor!” I said, and Jason immediately pulled his hand off me and Wood moved back, almost falling.

 

“I am merely here to announce that today’s potions class has been cancelled, as McGonagall’s lesson is of high importance and will need more time to be taught. Instead, you’ll be having double potions next week, with Gryffindor and Ravenclaw together, rather than your usual potions combination.”

 

Everyone looked at each other in astonishment, whatever McGonagall was doing today must be important if Snape was giving up a class. Snape turned around floated off in his usual manner, muttering to himself.

 

“As all of you already know,” said McGonagall, “Your O.W.L.S have a practical and a written portion. One of the most difficult spells you’ll be doing for your practical exam is the Vanishing Spell.”

 

I winced. Derek had told me about how difficult the Vanishing spell had been when he did it.

 

“We’ll be working our way from vanishing small, inanimate objects to working with living creatures- invertebrate and vertebrate. In today’s class, I’m hoping we can cover the theory of the spell and then do some practical attempts with some inanimate objects.”

 

My hand shot up into the air.

 

“No, Miss Sanders. You may not experiment on my Quidditch Captain. What was it you said? You’d not have anyone to compete with?” she said, and my hand slowly went down, my cheeks slightly pink, incredibly put out.

 

Wood’s hand shot up.

 

“No, Wood. You may not try it on Flint. And no, I don’t care if he’s a “coconut” as Erica put it.”

 

The class was shaking with laughter while the two of us looked anywhere but at each other.

 

“Did you seriously call Flint a coconut?” asked Jason.

 

“One of the Gryffie chasers called him that. I can’t think of a better description for the boy.”

 

After that, I found myself absolutely focused on the task at hand. I managed to focus on the theory enough to be able to apply it during our practical attempts, moving from buttons to desks. I glanced around the class, and Wood, hilariously enough, looked like he was making quidditch plans instead of working on the task set out for us.

 

I smirked slightly before looking at my friends, who had all had varying levels of success. Jason and Trisha appeared to be working together, and I couldn’t help but be surprised.

 

From the slightly smitten look on Jason’s face, there was something going on there.

 

I grinned to myself, focusing on the desk I was supposed to vanish. Trisha and Jason would be adorable together. I didn’t even notice McGonagall stop at Wood’s desk, shake her head in exasperation, and whack the boy lightly on the head. 

 

I was too engrossed in the romance that was unfolding right in front of me.

 

 

 

“So,” said Leah, watching Emily, Trisha, and me from her position on her bed. “You lot have any boys you’re interested in?”

 

Trisha blushed pink and I smirked.

 

“Oh ho! Who is this lucky guy?” said Emily, cackling and Trisha fidgeted. 

 

“Well, um,” she said. “I kinda really like Jason but I know he’s really into Erica.”

 

I snorted. “Trisha, love. That boy is as into me as Derek is. That is to say, not at all. Have you seen how he looks at you?”

 

Trisha blushed bright red and looked at the floor.

 

“The two of you would be adorable!” said Emily.

 

“They are adorable. Did you not see them in Transfiguration? Jason was looking at her like she was the key to the TARDIS.”

 

“The what?” Trisha said, puzzled.

 

“Muggle reference,” said Leah, grinning. “Basically he thinks you’re amazing. Specifically, the answer to everything in the Universe.”

 

I hi fived Leah, and we both sniggered and Trisha looked more and more embarrassed by it all.

 

“What about you Emily?” said Leah, taking pity on Trisha.

 

Emily shrugged. “Not particularly,” she said, easily. “No one’s really caught my eye.”

 

They all looked at me and they chuckled.

 

“What?” I said, confused.

 

“We would ask you the same, but the one guy in the entirety of school that you have any feelings for that are not brotherly-sisterly feelings are the ones you have for Oliver Wood.”

 

I thought about it. 

 

“Even if it is hate,” said Leah, with a laugh, “He’s the only guy you’ve really felt anything for in this school.”

 

“That is far more depressing than you make it sound.”

 

The three of them laughed, and I sighed.

 

“Have you ever liked a guy though?” asked Emily.

 

I thought back to New York. I’ve never really crushed on anyone. Not the way these three meant. I’ve always been friends with guys, but they’ve all been like brothers.

 

I shook my head. “Nothing beyond fangirl crushing on Derek’s very gay captain.”

 

Leah laughed. “You and your quidditch.”

 

I grinned easily, and let myself listen to them talk to me about the boys they’ve liked and dated. 

 

I’ve never really had that. Part of me had always been so focused on quidditch and school that the guys around me never even appealed to me. Most of the guys I knew were….well, they just took everything lying down. They were followers, not leaders.

 

“What do you like in a guy?” asked Leah.

 

“Well, like I told Wood. Captaincy is always attractive. Of course, he somehow took that as a complement so I had to specify that I meant competent captaincy.”

 

This made all three of them laugh.

 

“Only you, Erica,” said Trisha.

 

I shrugged. “Well, leadership has always been attractive to me. If you’re able to make decisions, be responsible, have vision. I like guys who can do that. Who have respect and give respect. Of course, they need to be able to play Quidditch, but well.”

 

Emily was looking at me with a thoughtful look while the other two laughed and told me about Charlie Weasley of the Dragons.

 

I raised an eyebrow at her, and she smiled, shaking her head.

 

I shook off the feeling she was reading me like an open book, and let myself focus on the story of the previous Quidditch Captain.

 

“Dragons?”

 

“Dragons.”

 

I grinned.

 

“Finally, a Gryffie captain who is interesting. Tell me all about Charlie Weasley of the Romanian Dragons, my friends!” I said, dramatically.

 

We all laughed after a moment, and huddled together. I couldn’t help the feeling of happiness in my chest as Trisha leaned against me as we made plans for Trisha and Jason to get together.

 

I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had done exactly what my mother had asked me to do- find a place to call home.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait. I've been writing my original story and Disasterology (the sequel of this fic) so I forget to upload occasionally. I hope you guys like it! I have plans for Erica and Flint, so look forward to it! Also, if I've not mentioned it before, I also have three mixes on 8tracks for this fic. One for the whole mix and one for Erica and Oliver each. Please do check it out. I'm working on the next set of mixes as we speak. :*

It was Hogsmeade day and I was not happy.

Well, I was happy for Trisha and Jason who were going together as “friends” because everyone else had said they had dates or work to do.

Meaning they all lied.

And both Jason and Trisha offered to be with me on my….forced isolation with Wood, but I told them to go enjoy themselves.

Emily insisted on dressing me up, though I can’t think of one reason she’d do so, considering I doubt Wood cared and I definitely didn’t see the need.

Once she was happy with my black trenchcoat jacket and black boots- which she insisted I wear jeans with- she curled my hair and sent me off. I grumbled to myself.

“Stupid Wood,” I mumbled when yet another guy whistled at me, only to get a dark, angry glare that sent him running.

“Jeez, Sanders. Dressed up for someone?” said a voice, and I turned to see the Gryffie boys approach us. Percy looked up at me for a moment before looking around again. Gates eyed me appreciatively before I heard Wood’s voice.

“She’ll gouge your eyes out, Andy. Careful.”

I turned and glared at him. He was just wearing jeans, a grey henley and a black jacket. I grumbled.

“Fucking Emily and her need to make me look nice.”

“Careful, Sanders. I might think you didn’t want to be here,” said Wood, mockingly.

“You’re an ass,” I said, grabbing him by the jacket when I noted that Jason and Trisha were at a distance.

“Where are you taking me?” he said, as the others sniggered.

“Jason and Trisha are on a date. We’re all spying on them.”

“Creepily watching them from the shadows, you mean. And I’m coming along, why?”

“Because. Dumbledore’s basically trapped me using a ball and chain. You’re the ball here, if you haven’t realized.”

He rolled his eyes as he followed me.

“Now, where do you reckon they’re going?” I asked, frowning as I followed them.

“Is this a date as friends or a date with intent?” he asked, as we carefully hid in the crowd.

“Isn’t a date usually with intent?” I asked, allowing him to guide me out of the crowd so we could follow Jason and Trisha.

“You’ve evidently never been on a date,” he said, and I shrugged.

“Can’t say I have, really.”

Wood stopped, staring at me.

“Why did you stop? Come on. We’ll lose them.”

He smirked.

“You’ve never been on a date, Sanders?” he said, grinning.

“I just said that, Wood. Great. We might have just lost them.”

“They’re going to the Three Broomsticks. If we follow them there, they’ll join us.”

I sighed.

“You reckon I can stare at them from the window?” 

He snorted. 

“Absolutely not. Now, tell me. Why have you never been on a date?”

“Well, Derek’s protective, and terrifying when he wants to be. No one in New York had the balls to ask me out,” I replied.

“Well, well well,” said a snide voice, and both of us froze. “Look at what we have here, guys! Wood and Sanders!”

I turned to see Flint, grinning at me. His eyes moved up and down my length, hungrily.

I immediately stepped back, but bumped into one of his Slytherin cronies.

“Never would have thought you were a looker, Erica. You clean up well,” Flint purred.

I rolled my eyes, pretending I wasn’t terrified.

“Wow, Flint. I must say, your perceptive skills aren’t lacking at all.”

“What do you want, Flint?” said Wood, pulling out his wand, but not lifting it up.

“So tell me, Erica,” he said, ignoring Wood. “Why does no one know you’re that Sanders?”

I froze, feeling the blood rush from my face.

“How do you know that?” I said, shakily.

Flint chuckled. “My father mentioned that the daughter of the Head of the Alpha Coven was hiding in Hogwarts. Now, why would you need to hide?”

“Fuck off, Flint,” I said, trying to leave, but his cronies didn’t let me through.

“Now, now. No need to get feisty,” Flint said, moving closer to me.

“Feisty is her permanent setting. Now, she said fuck off Flint. Leave her alone,” said Wood, not understanding why I was terrified.

“How sweet!” said Flint, and the others cackled.

It was only then that I realized that Jason and Trisha were leaving the pub and were slowly making their way elsewhere.

“Ah, crap. Move, Flint. As lovely and enlightening as this has been, I have something I need to do,” I said pushing the boy aside roughly, grabbing Wood, and ran after the two.

“What the fuck was that?” said Wood.

“Its nothing,” I said, waving it off.

He grabbed my hand roughly.

“Sanders, I don’t know what you just saw, but what I saw was harrassment!”

“I said it was nothing, Wood!” I yelled, not realizing we were now in front of the shack was Emily told me was called the Shrieking Shack. 

“It didn’t look like nothing to me! It looked like he was threatening you!”

“I don’t care! What I care about is that your stupid need to be chivalrous made me lose track of my friends!”

“How the hell is that the important thing here?”

“I’ve never had many girl friends, okay? All my friends were in my quidditch team or Derek’s friends first. Boys are easy to befriend, but Trisha, Leah, and Emily are my first ever female friends that I made myself! And this was the first time I got to do something like this, and you had to ruin it!” I yelled. “YOU RUIN EVERYTHING! I HATE YOU!”

Wood looked absolutely astonished at the outburst. Then his face hardened.

“Stop having a tantrum. Having the attention of a Slytherin is more dangerous than you seem to understand.”

I growled angrily and stormed off, Wood following me calmly.

“Erica?” said a voice I recognized as Trisha, but I stormed past them, needing to get back to Hogwarts, where I felt like no one could bother me. I needed to get to the music room. I couldn’t look at people right now.

If I did, I knew I’d wonder how Flint knew, what he knew, how that could hurt me.

“You’ll be safe at Hogwarts,” I mumbled to myself, sarcastically. “He’ll never get you there.”

I didn’t even notice that Wood was no longer following me.

 

The music was rarely ever even in use -- given that the only time people went there was when they wanted a snog or when we had muggle music class -- so I had it all to myself. 

I grabbed a guitar and strummed, humming to myself. I thought about how my dad had sent me away so easily, so quickly. 

The New York Ministry was important. But sometimes, I felt like I came second to my parents’ jobs and the coven itself.

The door opened to show Jason, who looked like he had run all the way here.

“Are you okay?” he said, closing the door behind him, moving forward.

I nodded shakily. 

He sighed, sitting in front of me, but didn’t say anything, just letting me sing to myself.

Once I finished singing, he moved forward to pull me into a tight hug, letting me sob.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” he asked, gently.

I sighed, trying to rub off the tears.

“Have you heard of the Alpha Coven?” I asked.

He frowned. “They’re like the ministry in the States, right?”

I nodded. 

“We have a whole bunch of covens that are like governmental organizations. Like...heads of districts. All of them answer to the Alpha Coven, which is responsible for all of them and the international affairs. My parents…” I said, looking at my hands.

“My parents are the leaders. They’re the Head Witch and Head Wizard of the Alpha Coven, which basically means they’re the Minister of Magic back home. For the sake of gender equality and equal representation, we tend to have a male and female Head- usually, but not necessarily- married.”

“So your mum’s like the First Lady, but with the same powers as the Minister?”

“Exactly. While the development of the Ministry for the sake of equality and international recognition is something almost all the covens have agreed to, there is one coven that is dead set against its development because it essentially means that the old system of power is changed. As a result, my parents have been getting a lot of threats, which they can easily handle.”

“But then you were threatened,” said Jason, his eyes wide.

I nodded. 

“Hogwarts is apparently one of the safest places on Earth. Hilarious, considering we had a troll roaming the halls a couple days back. And its beginning to get more and more stressful, since I not only have OWLS and Quidditch to worry about, but somehow, Flint’s figured out who I am. If that coconut can figure it out, anyone can.”

“Listen, Erica. We’re your friends, right?” Jason said, and I nodded. “Then stop worrying. If anything happens, we’ll be the first to come to help.”

I smiled shakily.

“Now, let’s plan the practice. We have two weeks to prepare for our match against Hufflepuff. And we need to win.”

I grinned.

“I’ve already spoken to Hooch. She’s cool with us practicing both in the morning and after dinner on two days a week. We’ve decided on Thursday and Friday, since the other slots are full and we’re all free on those days. So we can focus, but I was thinking we need to do endurance training every morning, so you’ll all have to wake up a little early.”

Jason nodded. 

“That sounds reasonable. It should be enough right?”

“With the training I have planned, its more than enough,” I said, with a wicked smirk.

 

“She wasn’t kidding when she said it was more than enough,” grumbled Jason as the team jogged behind me.

“She’s fucking mental,” gasped Randolph.

“I’m never gonna catch my breath,” gasped Cho.

“Come on, you lot!” I yelled. “My dead grandmother can run faster than you. Emphasis on dead!”

As we ran, I noticed we were on course towards the Quidditch pitch where the Gryffindor team was just leaving.

“Hey, Sanders!” I heard Wood yell.

I ignored him, nodding at the rest of the team and ran forward.

“Wood,” gasped Jeremy. “I beg of you, distract her!”

“If you lot don’t sprint right now, you’re going to be doing push ups till breakfast!” I yelled, and they all groaned.

Alicia snorted. “She’s crazier than Wood!”

“She’s mental,” grumbled Duncan as he jogged past them, trying to breathe.

“She’s been quoting Mulan for the past hour,” moaned Grant.

Wood sighed. 

“Well, looks like she’s ignoring me then. Fucking immature bint. Doesn’t listen,” he growled and stormed off, and the Gryffindor team ran after him the moment I yelled, “Down, 10 push ups!”

I knew very well that endurance training was the most important thing in Quidditch. My team needed to be as fast as possible- needed to be as strong as possible- if it wanted to defeat teams that had been together for much longer than we had.

I hadn’t done training for a while, so the pain in my muscles was a beautiful, welcome distraction from whatever Flint had planned. It was a beautiful distraction from everything stressful, and I couldn’t help the grin as I did my 20 push-ups as usual and popped up.

“Alright, guys. The main part is over. Just cooling down stretches and then we can all go, bathe and go for breakfast.”

They all sighed in relief, doing their cool down stretches and Cho and I left to the girl’s changing room for a quick bath.

“Say, Erica,” said Cho, as we both stepped into our stalls, ignoring the shouts of laughter from the Gryffindor chasers.

“Hmm?” I said.

“Are you...um...that is to say...do you have a problem with inter-house dating?” she asked.

I snorted.

“Finally doing something about Diggory, Cho?” I said, and laughed when I heard the sound of soap being dropped.

“Um, yeah.”

“As long as you don’t betray me by dating Wood, you can date whoever you please,” I said.

“Being possessive, are we?” said a voice above me, and I looked up to see Angelina grinning down at me, stark naked.

I rolled my eyes.

“I would include Flint, but the boy’s too dumb to be Cho’s type. Cho has some self-respect.”

Cho laughed from her stall.

“So is that a compliment for Oliver?” said Alicia, as her head poked into the curtain.

“Dammit, guys. I’m naked here.”

They all laughed easily, letting it go.

I let myself smile. I could handle this. I hadn’t gone through all this just to buckle because of Marcus fucking Flint.

I breathed deeply and left the shower, ignoring the hoots of the girls, dressing up as quickly as possible.

Katie grinned at me and flicked her wand so my hair was instantly dry.

I smiled in thanks and left the room to quickly go to the Library and pick up a book before breakfast.

“Why, hello there Sanders,” said a voice, and I groaned and turned to see Flint, surprisingly without any of his cronies.

“Flint,” I said, refusing to let him faze me.

“So, I haven’t seen you around Wood lately.”

I raised an eyebrow. 

“I prefer to not be around him at all.”

“That’s good,” he said, the smirk on his face widening. “Then you are single.”

“Um, what?” I said, absolutely certain I had misheard him.

“You’re not dating Wood?”

“Absolutely not! Why the hell would you even think that?” I asked, and his smile widened even more.

“You went to Hogsmeade with him?”

“Because Dumbledore wants us to stop hexing each other!”

“So then you’re single?”

“Yes!” I said, exasperated. “Are we done?”

“Wanna go to Hogsmeade with me next time?”

“WHAT?” 

I heard a loud crunch and gasped when I realized I had just punched Flint in the face.

“Oh crap.”

“What the fuck, Sanders?” he said, getting up, holding his face.

“Why the fuck would you ask me out?”

“You’re hot and I’m a captain. You may as well make your way through them all,” he said, and I punched him again. This time I was sure I concussed him.

“Fuck you, Flint!” I yelled, tears stinging my eyes and I stormed off.

“Hey, Sanders!” I heard Wood’s voice call out but I stormed right past him and to the Claw table, where I found Jason and Emily.

“What’s wrong?” Emily asked.

“I hate men. Hate them.”

“Gee thanks,” said Jason, drily.

“Okay, fine. I hate all the captains except Diggory.”

“Wow, that doesn’t narrow it down at all,” said Jason, his tone turning even more dry.

“It’ll get better,” said Grant, even though he had no idea what I was talking about.

I let out a laugh. Immediately, I felt better, ruffling the kid’s hair. He scowled at me playfully, and we couldn’t help the smiles that stretched on our faces.

I could ignore Wood. I could pretend that Flint didn’t exist. 

I was going to be happy and ignore the drama these two boys brought into my life.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so first off, I am so so sooooooo SORRY! I meant to upload frequently, but due to postgrad work, I've not managed to do that. I finished this fic wayyyy back, before September. But I keep forgetting to upload, and I don't want to upload it all at one shot, because the sequel is still being written. I've been having road blocks due to time constraints and deadlines. I know, its not really an excuse, but the fandoms have taken a back seat as I tried to at least try to "adult" for a bit.
> 
> I do intend to finish posting all of this, and I love this fic to bits. If you guys have tropes, hilarious second year ideas, or whatever, for the sequel, feel free to send them to me. I'll try to incorporate them as I write. Also, as an apology, I'll be posting three chapters, so I hope you guys like it!

Oliver frowned to himself as he thought about his day. It felt like something was really off. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was definitely off.

Maybe it was nerves. Their first match was in 4 days, and he was definitely stressing out, given that this was Harry's first game of Quidditch in his entire life.

"Okay," said a voice from the door, and Oliver looked up to see Percy looking kinda stressed out.

"What's up, Perce?" said Andrew from his bed.

"I'm in love."

"Alright," said Andrew, brightly, thinking the boy was pulling their leg.

"With the Ravenclaw Prefect- Penelope Clearwater."

"Oh shit," said Andrew, and Oliver's eyes widened.

Penelope was a rather pretty girl who kept to herself. From what he could tell, she was single and was not in Sander's dorm.

"Why don't you go ask her out?" Oliver asked him.

"I can't ask her out! I need to know how to ask her out and where to ask her out!"

"Mate, calm down. Why don't you ask a Claw?" said Andrew.

"Yeah, they should be able to tell you about Clearwater's likes and dislikes."

Both boys turned to Wood. Percy had an oddly desperate look on his face and Andrew looked kinda smug.

"Oliver. You know the Ravenclaws! Go talk to them!"

"Hey!" he said, affronted. "I don't talk to them! The only Claw I actually speak to is Sanders, and that really depends on whether or not you have an appropriate definition of talking."

"But you can go speak to them and ask them for me! Please, Oliver!"

Oliver backed away slightly but he knew already that he would be doing this.

"I won't do this without Andrew."

"Of course," said Andrew, grinning. "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

It was at that moment that Wood realized that he hadn't even seen Sanders around for a while, let alone spoken to her.

And this gave the perfect excuse to figure out why he hadn't seen her around.

"What about this," Oliver said. "Andy and I will talk to them right after dinner."

"Oh my god," said Percy, relieved.

"Oh my god," said Andrew, for a completely different reason. Oliver gave him an odd look, but Andrew waved it off.

"Let's go to the Great Hall, then," said Andrew, grinning to himself.

Oliver didn't understand why Andrew looked so amused, but he decided it was better not to ask.

They made their way down to the hall, and immediately Oliver noted that all the Claws in Sanders' group were already seated in their places, busy talking about something.

"Come on then, Andrew. Better get this done with."

The two moved towards the group and they all immediately became quiet. Oliver's eyes were on Sanders for a moment, who had not even lifted her head.

"We need your help," said Andrew, and the group focused on them. "Could you girls meet us after dinner. Its important."

The girls looked at each other and then at Erica, who hadn't even moved her gaze from the book she was reading.

Andrew nodded at the three other girls, and both the boys turned to go back to the Gryffindor table.

"She's ignoring you."

"Thank mate, I wouldn't have realized that without you pointing that out."

"Maybe you guys can figure your shit out when we all meet for Percy's thing."

Oliver glared at Andrew, who shrugged.

I was sitting in my bed when Emily came in, a sad look on her face when she looked at me.

"Erica, is something wrong?" she asked, sitting on my bed.

I closed my book and thought about lying for a split second. Then I sighed, Emily would be able to help, I knew she would.

I told her about Flint, what he had said, about everything that had happened. I told her about what I had told Jason. I told her about how I was avoiding them to stop the stress.

"Erica, honey," said Emily, with a sad smile. "Flint is a Slytherin, its like his permanent setting is to be a goddamn asshole. Wood isn't as bad as you think he is, but that's beside the point."

I looked at her like she had betrayed me to the Daleks. She laughed.

"Wood and Gates called us to ask us for help with Penelope Clearwater."

"Who?" I asked, and she snorted.

"He said you'd say that."

"What?"

"When I told Wood you refused to come, he said it was fine since you probably had absolutely no idea who Penelope was. She's the Ravenclaw Prefect in our year. She sleeps in the other dorm. Percy is in love with her, so he wanted to know how to ask her out. You should have been there. Regardless of not knowing her, your suggestions are always good."

"How'd the meeting go?"

"It was fine. I think he had some good ideas," said Emily with a small smile.

"I wonder why those two are so affected by each other."

"You already have your theories," Emily said, frowning at Andrew.

"Of course I do. They'd be good for each other."

"If they saw past their rivalry."

Andrew smiled to himself and looked at Emily with a serious look in his eyes.

"If Sanders had to save Wood's life, and she knew she would hurt herself in the process, I have a feeling she'd help him regardless of the pain she'd cause herself. And its the same for Wood. He's protective of her, he'll deny it till he's dead and gone, but its obvious."

Emily ran her fingers through my hair gently.

"Erica," she said, "Can I ask you something?"

I nodded.

"Why did you say no to Flint?"

I gagged. "I'd rather date Wood."

She grinned, shaking her head in amusement.

"That would signal the end of the world."

I laughed with her and moved to go to bed, not noticing her writing on a piece of paper and enchanting it to fly out of the window and into the boy's dorm.

"Have you ever liked someone, Erica?" Emily asked me, as I got into bed.

"Not really? I've never really met anyone who...made me feel the way Trisha feels with Jason."

"That's not the only way love can feel, you know?"

"Oh god, yeah, I do. Have I told you about my Mom and Dad?"

She shook her head, and I motioned for her to sit on my bed with me.

"My mom was part of one of the most influential covens in the country. She was an aspiring legal wizard and she studied in a school called Salem Witches' Institute. When she graduated, she joined a specializing academy called New York Institute for Legal Wizardry. My father was also a student there, studying public policy and politics."

Emily nodded, unsure as to why I was telling her this story.

"My mom is as competitive as I am. More so, sometimes. So when she met my father, they were both vying for the attention of a particular professor who could give them the funding they needed for their research. Of course, given the fact that my father's study needed the money more, they gave it to him, and that was when a beautiful rivalry was created."

"Oh my god," said Emily, sniggering.

"Yeah, it continued for three years or so. My mom kept fighting with dad, who found her quite charming and attractive. He let her assume he wanted to compete with her so they could hang out more. And then, suddenly, one day, my mom just...angrily attacked his face with hers."

"What?"

I nodded, unsure as to why Emily found this so damn funny.

"Then my dad asked her for permission to court her, and she's like- Isn't that what we've been doing the entire time?"

Emily fell off the bed laughing.

"I don't understand. Why do you find this so funny? I was just trying to tell you I know people have different ways of expressing love."

Emily couldn't stop laughing, to the point that she was having trouble breathing. When she finally stopped laughing, she shook her head.

"No, its nothing Erica. Go to sleep."

I frowned but pulled the covers over me anyway. She'd tell me when she wanted to.

Unbeknownst to me, Jason was flipping out in the boys dorm and was off to meet Wood.

All I cared about was sleeping.

I yawned. I couldn't sleep properly last night, as I kept dreaming of something that terrified me. For the life of me I couldn't remember what it was. It was really annoying because all I knew was that it would repeat itself regardless of me waking up and sleeping again.

"You okay?" asked Trisha, looking up from her muffin.

"I couldn't sleep properly last night," I said, rubbing my eyes sleepily.

"Sanders," said a voice, and I froze.

"A little birdy- and by that, I mean a very angry chicken- told me about something rather interesting. Remember when I told you the attention of a Slytherin was bad news?" said Wood, and I immediately glared at Emily who pointed at Jason.

Jason didn't even look fazed by my glare.

"I got angry and told him to fucking fuck off and stop bothering you because all this shit was happening."

I glared at Wood, stabbing my bacon angrily.

"You're an idiot, Sanders. Its all a mind game. Flint knows you can't deal with shit like this, so he's using it against you. He's playing you and you're letting him. No one with half a brain thinks we're dating. You're just being an idiot and playing into his hands."

"Who the hell are you calling an idiot?" I said, angrily.

"I'm not going to stop calling you an idiot until you start using that brain of yours. Flint is trying to aggravate you, because he knows it could potentially affect your game. A good captain doesn't fall for shit like this. Grow up," Wood said, and I grabbed my bacon and stormed off.

A small smile formed on Wood's face as I did so, and the last thing I heard as I left the table was Randolph's voice.

"Is it just me or did Oliver Wood just give Erica a pep talk?"

I didn't stop until I was well on my way to the Dungeons. Wood had actually taken the effort to be...nice?

I shook my head. That boy was an annoying cockroach. He probably just wanted to fight with me. That seemed like a more likely reason for his weird behaviour.

I sighed, making my way into the Potions class. Today was the day we had our double potions and I was concerned simply because my usual partner was a Claw, but I knew Snape would change all our partners since it wasn't the case for everyone.

One by one, everyone streamed in, and I looked up to glance at Jason who gave me a quick apologetic grin before hurrying after Trisha.

"Today," said Snape, as he entered the class. "We'll be making the Draught of Peace. I'm well aware that some of you are too incompetent to effectively make the potion, but I hope your partners will be able to avoid your blubbering messes."

He glared at all the Gryffindors.

"Now, who can tell me what the Draught of Peace is?"

My hand shot up, but he quickly scanned the class.

"Miss Sanders. It appears you are yet again the only competent person in this class. Go ahead."

"The Draught of Peace is a potion which relieves anxiety and agitation. Its ingredients are powdered moonstone, syrup of hellebore, powdered porcupine quills, and powdered unicorn horn. It should be a turquoise blue when finished and simmered before being drunk."

"Five points to Ravenclaw. This is a question for the Gryffindors. It should be a relatively easy one. What is moonstone?"

Percy raised his hand.

"Weasley."

"Moonstone is a gemstone of medium value. Moonstones are a milky colour and shine very brightly, almost as though they are a source of their own light. They are a useful potion ingredient; powdered moonstones are used as an ingredient for the Draught of Peace and in several Love Potions."

"Five points to Gryffindor," Snape said, looking disgusted at having to give the points, while the other girls in the class tittered at the words "Love Potion".

"Since all of you girls seem more interested in Love Potions, why don't you tell me what kinds of Love potions exist," he said, meanly, effectively silencing the class.

Trisha and Emily sank into their seats. Potions was by far their least favorite subject, even though Trisha needed an OWL and NEWT in Potions to become a Healer. Trisha was good with practicals, but disliked Snape.

I, on the other hand, adored him because he was by far the funniest teacher we had.

"No one? Oh, Mister Wood. Do tell us," he said, smirking at Wood, who looked like he had just been trying to hide from Snape.

I smirked slightly as his eyes widened in horror.

"Um, they're potions that make you fall in love? The strongest type is Amortentia?"

Snape looked like he wanted to shove poison down Wood's throat, even though the boy was right.

"Five points from Gryffindor. In the future, Mister Wood, I suggest you pay attention in class instead of planning whatever hair brained scheme you have to "defeat" Miss Sanders."

The entire class sniggered, and I couldn't help the glare I sent Snape. Why was the entire school aware of my enmity with Wood?

"Since you've proved yourself incompetent in this subject, time and again, I suggest you work with Miss Sanders for this class. Heaven knows she has brains enough for the two of you."

My glare instantly vanished and was replaced with a pleased grin, even though I was paired with Wood.

"Suck up," grumbled Wood as he sat beside me.

"Moron. Did you have to say the first bit? You would have easily got points for the second bit."

He glared at me, though for some reason, his lips twitched slightly for a split second.

"Alright, start making the potion," said Snape, and we all started getting our ingredients.

"I'll get the ingredients. You start heating up the cauldron. Do not do anything the book does not tell you to do."

He nodded and by the time I got back, he was just waiting for the moonstone.

"Alright, we add moonstone until it turns green, stir 7 times clockwise and then 7 times anti-clockwise till it turns blue."

The two of us set about making our potion and suddenly, there was no one in the room but Wood and myself. We managed to get it to turn white, and Snape looked absolutely surprised when he passed us.

"Ten points to Ravenclaw for being able to overpower the stupidity of a Gryffindor."

I smirked as Wood glared at the man's back.

"He really hates you lot, doesn't he?" I said, quickly bottling the potion and labelling it.

"Always has," Wood replied.

"Ready for the game?" I asked.

"I'm not giving you inside secrets," he said, glaring at me as we both got up to leave.

"Like I need them. I was being polite."

"The day you're polite is the day we snog."

Gates and Emily, who were behind us, sniggered.

"I hope you fall off your broomstick."

He rolled his eyes as we passed Snape.

"Miss Sanders, I should probably inform you that there's a letter from your old Potions Master regarding the project you were doing for him."

"Oh, its complete and already sent, Professor."

Snape nodded and Wood and I left the room.

"What project?"

"Wolfsbane potion. We had to choose a complex potion as our project for them, and I was supposed to give it in when I left."

He nodded and we walked in silence for a moment.

"So are you coming tomorrow?" he said.

"Of course I am," I said, rolling my eyes. "I need to see how the teams play. Hermione insists I wear Gryffindor colours, which I'm quite annoyed about."

"Coming to cheer me on, Sanders?" he said, grinning at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Barking up the wrong tree, Wood," I said, smirking at the pun.

His grin just widened.

"Are you going to hold up a banner for me? MARRY ME WOOD!"

I couldn't help snorting.

"Why the hell would I do that?"

"Lots of girls do. Its either me or Flint, so you can choose," he said, laughing as I made a swipe at him.

"Fuck off, douche," I said, pushing him and he just laughed, making his way to the Gryffindor Commons while I went to the Library.

When I found myself in my usual seat by the window, my eyes widened.

Had Wood and I actually had a teasing, friendly conversation?


	8. Chapter 8

****

"Erica!" called Hermione and I turned, smiling at the girl.

"I got you some Gryffindor colours! Alicia told me to give you the scarf and the cloak!"

I grinned.

"Thanks, 'Mione. Shall we go?"

"We have to wait for Ron. He's coming with us."

"Alright then," I said, as we waited at the Main Entrance for the red haired boy.

"Supporting Gryffindor, Sanders?" said a voice, and I looked up to see Flint.

"Of course I am. It was either Gryffindor or Slytherin."

"You mean it was either me or Wood," he said, smirking.

I shrugged. "Whichever way you want to take it."

"What about Slytherin and Hufflepuff?" he said.

"Diggory. Let me rephrase this," I said, smiling sweetly at Flint. "There is no situation on Earth that would make me want to support you or your team."

Something dark passed over his face.

"Have it your way. Don't come crying to me when Wood loses."

"Don't worry yourself, Flint. I'm already sure the Gryffies will win."

He just smirked and walked away.

Hermione gaped at me, as did Ron, who had finally arrived.

"That was wicked!" said Ron, and I shrugged.

"You should see me argue with Wood."

"Are you sure that was wise, though?" said Hermione. "He looked ready to hit you! And he threatened Wood."

"Yeah," I said, frowning. "I should probably tell him that."

"Yeah, you really should. If we hurry, we may just be able to catch them," said Ron, looking worried, and the three of us hurried to the room the Quidditch Tent that had been assigned to the Gryffindors.

"Wood, Wood!" we said in chorus, the other two panting for breath and I looked around for the Keeper.

"What is it? Why the hell are you here, Sanders?" he said, gruffly.

"Here to give Wood a good-luck kiss, eh?" said Fred, waggling his eyebrows.

"What? No! I just spoke to Flint. He threatened you!"

"Why does that even bother you?" he said.

"Um, because its Flint? As you said, any attention from a Slytherin is bad attention?"

"I'll be fine. Go to the stands. And make sure you have my banner!" he called as we left.

"That boy is incredibly stupid. I know Flint is going to do something," I grumbled.

Hermione nodded.

"Flint did not look happy at all," she said, as we made our way to the stands.

"I'm gonna go see if I can sneak into one of the towers. You guys go on without me."

"You really think you'll be able to do that?"

"McGonagall loves me. Well, she loves to hate me, but yeah. She shouldn't say much if I just end up next to her. See you!"

"Bye! We'll be in the Gryffindor stand if you can't get through!"

"Yeah, sure!" I yelled back and hurried to the tower.

"Miss Sanders! You're not allowed here!" said McGonagall when she saw me scurry to sit with her.

"But Professor! Wood can't see his banner if I don't sit here!" I said, grinning as I unfolded it.

It said in very clear words- FUCK YOURSELF WOOD!

"Although, he asked me to say "MARRY ME WOOD". But I figured honesty is always the best policy."

I grinned proudly at the exasperated look of McGonagall's face. She didn't send me away, just sat back down.

"I always knew she liked me," I said to the commentator, Lee Jordan, who laughed.

I could hear McGonagall's exasperated groan from Lee's other side.

"Can you help me hold up this banner? Only when Wood catches 5 quaffles." I asked the man next to me, and he nodded, smiling.

I lifted the binoculars I had brought with me, getting an odd look from McGonagall.

I watched each and every player carefully. Harry, I knew, was still shaky on the broom but he was an excellent Seeker. I watched Flint, who was, admittedly, not all that bad. The Slytherin team tended to swing towards dramatic displays of skill.

"What the hell is Flint doing?" I said, as he grabbed a beater's bat and hit a bludger.

I gasped as the bludger collided with Wood, who hurtled towards the ground. Flint was grinning like he had just won the goddamn Nobel Prize.

McGonagall just slumped slightly, as if she had given up.

"GODDAMMIT GRYFFINDOR. YOU BETTER FUCKING WIN!" I hollered, standing up making everyone around me jump.

"WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GODDAMN SEND A BLUDGER AT FLINT?"

"Erica, I think you need to calm down."

"What the hell is happening with Harry's broom?" I said, frowning. It looked like the boy had lost control of his broom, and my heart sank as the broom sped to the ground.

"Is he okay?" I said, feeling McGonagall's hand tighten on my own.

"HARRY POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Lee said, and I yelled in joy as McGonagall and I hugged each other.

* * *

"Hey! Harry!" I said, running up to the Gryffindor team. "You okay? This is the first time I've seen someone almost swallow the snitch."

He blushed bright red, and above his head, I smirked at Flint who glared at me.

"I told you they'd win!" I called at him.

Fred and George looked amused.

"Guess Wood really did need that good-luck kiss."

I rolled my eyes.

"I even made a banner for him," I said, pouting and all of them looked surprised.

"What does it say?" asked Alicia, and I opened it, making them all laugh.

"McGonagall was so exasperated."

"We're going to see if Wood is okay now," said Katie.

"I'm coming along!" I said, brightly. "I have to show him his banner!"

"You should give him printed t-shirts like that," said George with a snort.

"You have the loveliest ideas, George," I said, and he looked so surprised I knew which one was which.

"How did you…?"

"Our own mum can't tell us apart!"

"Fred tends to check me out more than George. Also, George's way of speaking is slightly different."

The girls sniggered at the befuddled expression on the twins' faces.

"Now come on! If Wood is awake, I wanna get this done with!"

"She's awfully excited about this," said Angelina with a grin.

"And I get to tell that asshole that I was right!"

"That might be why," said Alicia drily.

"Come on, guys!" I said, laughing. "You need to go in first!"

They shook their heads fondly and moved forward so that they all entered before me.

"Did we win?" I heard Wood say.

I pushed Harry forward.

"Yeah, Harry here almost swallowed the snitch!" said Fred with a laugh.

"Great job, Harry!"

"Sanders has something to show you," said Alicia, making the others snigger and Harry smile at his feet.

"Sanders," he said, his smile fading. "Why is she here?"

"You didn't get to see my banner," I said, frowning slightly.

"Go on then, show him the banner," said George.

I opened it, watching Wood. He groaned. "Go away Sanders," he said, glaring at me.

"Hey! I'll have you know I put all my...well, I can't say love and affection but well. I'm sure you get it."

"I don't want to deal with you right now!" he yelled.

"Why are you being such an arse?" I yelled back.

"Oh crap," said Katie, pulling Harry out of the way.

"Why don't you just go running to Flint?" he yelled. I froze, my heart stopping for a moment.

"Fuck you Wood. At least I got some tips on how to deal with the team when I watched Flint. Somehow, I can't say the same about you," I said, coldly, and Angelina stared at me with horrified eyes. Something dark passed over Wood's face. "I'd also like to say I did tell you to be careful, but well. I guess I'm not the only stubborn one here."

With that, I stormed off, ignoring Katie's desperate calls to tell me he didn't mean it.

I blinked away the tears in my eyes. I thought Wood and I were at least starting to be friendly. I guess I thought wrong.

"Sanders! What's wrong?" I heard a voice, and I looked up to see Gates, who looked incredibly concerned.

"Nothing. I'd appreciate it if you said nothing to...your roommate."

"Oh god. What did Wood do now? Is he okay?"

"He was fine enough to start a fight with me, so I assume so."

"Are...are you okay?" he asked, awkwardly.

I sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

"Wait, I think Emily is here. You girls are good at the whole consoling thing, right?" he said, looking flustered and it was only then I realized why.

I was crying.

The horrified look on Emily's face when she came out just brought on more tears.

"Are you sure you don't want to me to yell at Wood? Its quite likely he was just embarrassed," said Gates.

"You will not say a single word to him," I growled through my tears, and somehow, that seemed to terrify him even more. "He will not know about this entire thing. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Emily snorted, and pulled me into her arms.

"Come on. Let's go to the dorm."

* * *

"What happened with Wood?" Emily asked Andrew.

The two had been slowly becoming good friends given the whole discussing Wood and Erica thing. Code-Name Wonders.

They had laughed for an hour about how the two would kill them for the name alone.

"He was in the hospital ward when Sanders came to see him. And he was incredibly embarrassed, I think. I have a feeling he never wanted her to see that happen. And so he reacted in the easiest way possible- he lashed out."

"He said all this?" Emily asked.

"No, of course not. He kept swearing about how Sanders was such a bint and she was so fucking annoying. I think there was a bunch of stuff about Flint in between, but I'm not sure, considering he's been throwing stuff at the wall."

Emily snorted.

"Yeah. Erica is more pissed that she cried because of whatever he said. Apparently he said something about running off to Flint, and she flipped because she was just trying to help Wood."

"She was actually hurt, wasn't she?" said Andrew, with a frown.

Emily looked at her hands.

"Erica is the sort who is really protective of her friends. Even if she doesn't realize it, she doesn't have a category for someone like Wood in her life. She's not yet at the point that she can see someone as a romantic interest, so when people like Flint approach her- even if its as a joke- her immediate reaction is to be defensive. Wood oscillates between being friendly and flirting with her in his own way. So while Erica doesn't realize what is exactly happening, she reacts instinctively. Of course, her instinct is to _march to battle_ which is worrying in the least."

This made Andrew laugh hard.

"That's incredibly hilarious, because that's one of the things Wood was grumbling. 'Bloody stubborn bint' something something 'marching to fucking battle at the drop of a hat'."

"He's really pissed?"

"I think he's less pissed with Sanders, and more with himself. Wood wants Sanders, at some level, to see him as a strong person, a guy who can play quidditch. Falling off his broom does not do that, so when Sanders went to see him, even if it was to show him her banner, he flipped."

Emily sniggered.

"They're so much like each other," she said, smiling at Andrew who smiled back.

"But not completely. Its why they fit so perfectly. They're opposites, but not really opposites at all."

"Quite the romantic, aren't you?" said Emily with a snort.

"I have two sisters. They've been a horrible influence," Andrew said, making a face. Emily laughed, patting him on the shoulder.

"I better go. Erica and I were supposed to study at...oh fuck."

"What time is it?" said Andrew, his eyes widening.

"3 o'clock. I was supposed to meet Erica two hours ago."

"Oh crap. Wood and I were supposed to do Potions together."

The two ran towards the library.

* * *

I sighed, looking down at my Transfiguration textbook. Emily was supposed to have come to the Library ten minutes ago, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Sanders. Can I sit here?" said a voice, and I looked up to see a disgruntled Oliver Wood.

I shrugged, glancing at the door again.

"Waiting for someone? Andrew was supposed to come and help me with Potions," he said, sounding oddly awkward.

I nodded, looking at my book again.

He sighed.

"Look, Sanders. I'm sorry, okay? I...I just wasn't in the mood. We won, but Flint managed to do that shit, and I was just annoyed about the whole thing," Wood started to say.

I waved his apology away.

"Our interactions are usually like this. You say stuff, I say stuff. Why are you apologizing now?" I said, calmly.

Truth be told, I didn't want his stupid apology. Wood knew very well that Flint and I did not get along. The fact that he had brought up the tiff so callously pissed me off.

"Because…"

I raised an eyebrow at him, and he sighed.

"Look, I know you probably wouldn't care either way, but I'm not the sort of guy who uses information I know to hurt people, and that's what I did yesterday. It was a shitty thing to do, so I'm apologizing for it."

I nodded, unsure as to where this entire conversation was going.

We sat in silence, opening our respective books to start studying.

"Hey, Sanders? Could you explain the Wit-sharpening potion to me?" he said, frowning at his book.

I glanced at the clock. Emily still hadn't turned up and it was already an hour in.

I sighed.

"Yeah sure. What do you need help with?" I asked.

He grinned at me sheepishly.

"Everything?"

I sighed, but I couldn't help the small amused smiled that formed on my face.

"Alright, get over here," I said, motioning for him to sit next to me.

He grinned and did as he was told.

"Okay, do you want to take notes?" I asked him and he nodded, pulling out some parchment and a quill.

"Didn't you have this in your fourth year?" I said, frowning at the book as I skimmed over the chapter as quickly as possible.

"Yeah, but potions is not my subject. My dad says I should probably take it for NEWTs though, since most jobs require it."

I looked up, surprised.

"You're not taking Quidditch up?"

"Just a back-up plan."

I nodded. It made sense. It was exactly what I was doing.

"Okay, so what you need to remember is that it acts as a counteragent to the Confundus Charm," I started and soon, we were both engrossed in studying.

I didn't even realize another hour had passed till Emily and Gates came in running.

"Where were you?" I asked Emily the same time Wood asked Gates, "And where the ruddy hell have you been?"

"We, um," said Gates, looking quite confused at the sight of us studying together.

"You were together," I said, calmly, though Emily looked quite embarrassed about this.

"Yeah, we were talking…"

"For two hours?" said Wood, incredulously.

"Shhh!" Emily and I said together, glaring at the boy.

"Get back to writing about the properties of scarab beetles, Wood. You're never going to pass Potions if you get distracted," I said,

He groaned, getting back to it.

"Now, sit down," I told the two. "And yes, I'm very interested. What were you two talking about for two hours? Wood, focus," I said, glaring at the boy who had lifted his head to listen.

"Jesus Christ, you're a slavedriver," he grumbled.

"You'll be thanking me when you get an O in your goddamn O.W.L.s. Snape likes asking about ingredients more that the potions themselves, so I suggest you learn them properly."

"We just started talking and time just flew," said Emily, and I smirked. Looked like someone had a crush on a Gryffie.

"Alright," I said, and my smirk turned into a grin when Emily's ears turned as red as her hair.

Gates looked surprised that I was letting this go, but wisely did not question it.

"How do you even know about what Snape likes to ask?"

"I actually bothered asking him what I should focus on for the O.W.L.s," I said.

"It helps that he likes you more than he likes most people outside Slytherin," Emily said, drily.

I shrugged, grinning at Emily.

"Probably," I said, taking Wood's essay from him so I could read through it.

"And how did you two start studying together?" asked Gates, though I wasn't particularly paying attention anymore.

Wood said something that made Gates smirk to himself.

"Alright Wood. You'll need to correct these bits that I've marked in red, but beyond that it should be fine."

"Thanks," he said.

I hummed in response, getting back to my transfiguration book.

"So, Erica," said Emily, in a hushed voice. "Have you finished much?"

I lifted up my book to show her the sixth year book I was reading.

"Overachieving twat," mumbled Wood.

"What was that, Wood? I couldn't hear you over your proclamations of gratitude. On your _knees_."

I have no idea what the boy was thinking of, but his neck turned slightly red, as did Gates'. Gates looked torn between laughing and choking on his own saliva.

I looked at Emily, who shrugged, confused as well.


	9. Chapter 9

Wood woke up to Andy yelling about a match.

He groaned pushing his quilt off, feeling the area around him for his shirt.

"What the hell is going on?" he said, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"Dude, today's the Ravenclaw match! Why are you not awake?" Andy said, and Oliver didn't even look at him.

He just bolted to the loo so he could get ready.

He could hear Andy and Percy getting ready outside and once he finished brushing his teeth, he ran out.

"Why are you two wearing Claw colours?" he said, looking betrayed.

"Well," said Andy, grinning sheepishly. "I'm going with Emily and Percy is going with Penelope. So we're supporting their houses. Why don't you wear blue too?"

"Absolutely not," Oliver said, glaring at him.

"Dude, Erica wore red and gold for your match."

"For a completely different reason!" he said, already knowing that he was fighting a battle he would inevitably lose.

"Oliver," said Percy, looking slightly awkward.

"FINE!" Oliver growled, ruffling through his clothes and pulled out a blue shirt. "Happy?"

Andy rolled his eyes. "Yes, Oliver. We're incredibly happy. Now come on. Let's get some breakfast before going to the pitch."

"Yeah, yeah. Since when are you on good terms with Sanders anyway? Or rather, friendly enough to call her by her name?" Oliver said, grumpily.

Andy immediately looked skittish.

"Oh, um. Its a habit I've picked up from Emily. And she's not really stopped me so…"

"So," Oliver said, grinning. "Emily, huh?"

Andy's face flushed slightly.

"Shut it."

Percy and Oliver laughed at his embarrassment as they entered the Great Hall. Oliver's eyes immediately went to look at the Claw table, where he saw the entire team staring at their food. The only person who didn't seem to be nervous was Sanders, who was shoving bacon into her mouth.

She looked straight at Oliver, who nodded. She smirked, nodding back before grinning at Cho and Grant.

"You two are ridiculous," Andy mumbled, but Oliver hadn't heard him.

"Hey, Wood!" said Angelina. "We're going to the tent before the match to wish Erica good luck! Come with us!"

Oliver shrugged, and Katie grinned at him.

Once they had all finished their breakfast the four made their way to the tent as quickly as possible.

As they entered the tent, they heard Erica say, "We must be swift as a coursing river! With all the force of a great typhoon! With all the strength of a raging fire!"

"Are you seriously quoting Mulan?" said Oliver, without meaning to. The whole team turned, surprised.

"Shut it, Wood. Go away," she said, making a shooing motion. "Hey guys."

"We came to wish you luck," said Katie, smiling brightly.

"I came to see if you were pissing yourself in nervousness," said Oliver with a grin, just to get a glare from the girl.

"Beat it, boy. Now."

Oliver laughed and turned to leave with the girls.

"Wait wait! Wood!" she called, and he turned again to be assaulted by the entire team hitting him one by one.

"Alright, now that we've all knocked on Wood, let's continue. Shoo, boy."

The entire team was laughing at his confused expression, and the little keeper grinned up at him, "Its a muggle thing. For luck. Knock on Wood."

As Wood bewilderedly left the tent, the last thing he heard Erica say was, "What I mean to say, guys, is we're going to go out there, and dazzle. We're going to pummel them. Hogwarts won't know what hit them."

Amid the yells of agreement from the Claws, Wood only had one thought.

_That's my girl._

He frowned to himself. What the hell was that?

He shook his head and ran after his chasers so they could all find a seat.

"I hope everything goes okay," he heard one of Sanders' friends say.

"It'll be fine," said Emily. "Erica's trained them to the brink of death."

"We'll see," Oliver said, making all of them turn to him. "Diggory's team is often seen as the least likely to win. But they've been together much longer than Sanders' team. As long as she has a plan to overcome that disadvantage, she should be fine."

"You've been watching her," Andrew said, with a laugh.

"She's an opponent captain. We have a challenge currently underway. Naturally, I make it a point to know what she's doing."

" _And the teams are out! Today we have the Hufflepuffs, led by Cedric Diggory. Against them, we have the Ravenclaws, led by the terrifying but absolutely hot Erica Sanders- who will most likely punch me in the face after this."_

"Jordan!" yelled McGonagall, making everyone laugh. Oliver rolled his eyes, focusing on Sanders.

" _And Hufflepuff has control of the Quaffle...no wait! Erica's stolen the quaffle- just like she's stolen the hearts of many boys here- Professor!"_ yelped Jordan.

Oliver blocked Jordan's commentating out, focusing on Sanders and her chasers.

She passed to Randolph who passed it to Jeremy.

"Is she seriously combining the Wollongong Shimmy and the Hawkshead Attacking Formation?" said Oliver, frowning.

"Its like you're speaking another language," said Percy, with a laugh.

Erica had possession of the quaffle again.

" _And Erica has the quaffle again! But wait, look out, Hufflepuff's beaters have sent a bludger her way! Oh wow! Did she just perfectly execute a perfect sloth grip roll? Dear God, its like the woman is after my heart!"_

" _AND RAVENCLAW SCORES WITH TEN POINTS!_ " said McGonagall.

Everyone cheered.

" _Hufflepuff have possession of the quaffle again! Wait, Jeremy Stretton has stolen the quaffle! The Ravenclaws may just have a good season if they continue to play like this! And Jeremy goes in for a shot and wait, he's passed it to Randolph!_ "

"Poskoff's Ploy?" said Oliver. "How the hell did she get her players to work that well together?"

"You almost sound impressed," said Blackwater, getting a look from Oliver.

"I'm just stating facts. Its incredibly difficult to do that move without your team working in perfect synchrony."

" _And it looks like Chang has seen the snitch! Will she catch it?_ " said Jordan, and everyone focused on the seeker, who was soaring after the snitch with Diggory hot on her tails.

"Oh no. She's not actually seen it," said Oliver, gaping and Chang pulled up just before colliding with the ground. "She just executed the perfect Wronski Feint."

" _And Diggory is out for the count!_ " yelled Jordan. " _Chang is now flying after the real snitch. Erica scores yet again! Ravenclaw is at 30-0!_ "

" _Hufflepuff has possession of the quaffle again! Oh damn! Looks like its too late! CHANG HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! RAVENCLAW WINS WITH 180-0!_ "

The crowd surged up in cheers.

The Claws landed, looking ecstatic.

Sanders immediately ran towards Diggory, trying to check if he was okay. The other team members cheerfully shook hands with the other players, before checking on Diggory as well.

Oliver simply watched Sanders with a look of surprise. How had this girl managed to turn this ragtag bunch of students into professional players over the span of a month?

* * *

A week later, I found myself trudging through the snow towards The Three Broomsticks alone. It was apparently Date Hogsmeade, whatever that meant.

Leah was off with Jacob, Emily and Andrew were off doing something and Jason and Trisha were off somewhere as well. I had asked the Gryffindor Chasers if they wanted to hang out, but they also had plans, so I found myself hurrying towards the pub instead.

I heaved a sigh of relief when I felt the heat of the pub hit me as I stepped into the door, leaving the harsh cold outside. The pub wasn't too full, considering most people were probably either at Madam Puddifoot's or off in an alley, making out.

I hurried to an empty table in a corner and sat down, pulling my pea coat closer to me.

"Here alone, Sanders?" said a voice, and I looked up to see Wood.

"Go away," I whined. "Its too cold to deal with you."

He chuckled.

"Not used to the weather, Sanders? It only gets worse."

"I feel like I moved to fucking Antarctica," I said, and he shook his head, pulling off his gryffindor scarf and wrapping it around my neck.

"Wood, what are you doing?" I said, going slightly cross eyed as I watched him drape it around me carefully.

"You're cold. I'm not. Consider it a loan," he said, sitting down across from me.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

He shrugged, like it wasn't particularly a big deal, and motioned to Rosmeta for two butterbeers.

"What are you doing here alone?" he asked.

"Everyone's off with their dates, so I decided to just roam the village. Of course, I didn't take into account the fact that this country turns into a goddamn snowglobe."

He laughed, grinning at Rosemeta when she came with our butterbeers.

"Hey, Rosemeta. You're looking beautiful, as usual."

The lady whacked Wood lightly on the head.

"Oliver, don't be stupid, you have a date right in front of you," she said, reproachfully, though she was rather pleased.

"Not his date," I said. "Our friends abandoned us, so we're just stuck with each other."

Rosemeta shook her head and walked off, and Wood grinned as she left.

"Everyone flirts with her, don't they?" I asked, and he smirked.

"Why? Jealous?"

"Wood, the last time someone flirted with me and I figured it out, I punched them in the face."

He snorted, shaking his head.

"You're the only person I know who would react like that."

"What can I say? I like being unpredictable."

We were silent for a moment, drinking our butterbeer. I smiled as I felt the warmth spread through my body.

"So what are your plans for Christmas?" asked Wood, and my smile immediately disappeared.

"Sanders?" he said, cautiously.

"Christmas in my family hasn't been a family thing for years," I said quietly. "Its usually just me and Derek, sitting together, watching a couple Christmas movies and maybe playing Quidditch."

"What about your parents?" he said, frowning.

"My parents used to have the time to spend Christmas with us when Mama Hale and Papa Hale were alive."

Wood looked surprised.

"The Hale family and the Sanders family have been best friends for generations, and we've worked together and risen up in the ranks of the magical world together. Derek's father was the one who got me into Quidditch, and when they died, Derek just couldn't not continue the tradition."

He nodded, obviously feeling my sadness.

"Christmas had always been their favorite holiday, and usually, once we had our fun, Derek and I would go out to their graves and just sit there for a while. That's not going to be possible this year, since I'm supposed to stay as far away from the States as possible."

"Maybe you can do something else, this year?" said Wood, concerned. I smiled sadly at him.

"Yeah, I suppose. It just doesn't feel the same anymore."

He nodded.

"Anyway, forget that," I said, taking two huge gulps of butterbeer.

Oliver shrugged.

"My sister is crazy. She's freaking overbearing as hell and ever since mum and dad told her about you, she's been going crazier. You'd like her. You'd both team up and ruin my life."

I grinned.

"What can I say, Wood. Its so easy to ruin your life."

He rolled his eyes.

"Seriously. You two can never meet. Anyway, you wanna go spy on Andrew and Emily?"

"Its PENGUIN COUNTRY out there, Wood. I refuse to move out of this place."

"Don't be a baby. You know you want to," he sang, waggling his eyebrows.

"Ugh, I hate you," I grumbled, pulling my coat closer to me as we moved to pay for our drinks.

"Please, you love me."

"I will pull your tongue out of your head," I said, and he just grinned, handing over our cash to Rosemeta who smiled brightly at us as we left.

I grumbled to myself as I adjusted Wood's scarf.

He grinned. "Look up, Sanders."

I looked up, and felt my mouth drop. While it was crazy cold, the sight before me was beautiful. Snowflakes made their slow descent and when I looked at Wood, he just shrugged.

"You're feeling better now, right?"

I laughed, and he grinned back at me.

"Come on, let's see if we can spy on our friends."

I grinned and let him drag me with him towards the Shrieking Shack.

* * *

"You guys are ridiculous," said Katie with a glare. Wood and I just grinned at each other.

"Did you have to hex Flint?" she said, exasperatedly.

"That was all Sanders, not me!" said Wood, his hands in the air defensively.

"You were going to charge in like a muggle protecting my virtue. He would have pummeled you," I said, getting a glare from him.

"Hey! I can protect you just fine," he said, offended.

"Please. Have you seen yourself? Now look at Flint. He's more likely to win because he'll fight dirty and you are constitutionally incapable of doing so."

"I'll have you know that I am great at fist fights!" said Wood.

"Yeah, sure. I believe you."

Fred gaped at us.

"Are they seriously arguing about whether Wood can protect her?"

"They've actually been arguing about it all the way to the castle."

"See, Wood. I'm totally capable of punching him in the face and actually fighting with him. I'll win too. You, however, have zero hope there."

"You know what? Fine, I'll prove it to you!" he said, and George came in right then.

"Why are you two arguing about whether or not Wood can protect you?" he asked.

"Because he can't," I said, calmly, and Wood groaned.

"I could totally beat up a guy if I wanted to!"

"Its important that _you_ think that, Wood," I said, smirking as he sputtered angrily.

"Now, if you guys will excuse me, I better go to the Claw Commons. I have work to do," I said, and skipped off, leaving a spluttering Wood behind me.

I grinned to myself as I made my way to the Ravenclaw common room, and was still smiling to myself as I entered.

"Hey, Erica," said Trisha, looking up with a smile. "What did you do today?"

"Is that a Gryffindor scarf? You naughty girl! You went on a date without telling us?" said Leah, teasingly.

"Yes," I said, blankly. "I went on a date without telling you guys. And guess who I went with? _Wood_."

"He gave you his scarf?" said Emily, as all three of them burst into laughter at the look on my face.

"I was whining about it being cold. I guess he was trying to be chivalrous."

Emily grinned.

"I told you he wasn't that bad."

"He got into a fist fight with Flint."

"For what?" said Leah, finally breathing.

"Flint said something about how I should go to Hogsmeade with him next time, and he'd show me a real good time. He waggled his eyebrows and everything. I have no clue why Wood flipped, but I assume its because Flint threatened my virtue or something. Who knows why the hell that boy does stuff."

"Erica, love," said Jason, having heard this part. "Flint was talking about doing unmentionable things. For example, he wishes to slytherin to your bed."

"This is why we're friends, Jason. The puns," I said, with a grin. "But in all honesty, you have no idea how much the idea of doing anything with Flint disgusts me."

They all sniggered.

"Why can't they just leave me alone?" I grumbled, but didn't bother throwing away the scarf.

Jeremy wrapped his arms around me and sighed.

"Hey, all this keeps life interesting. Plus, what would you do without your competition with Wood?"

"I refuse to agree with you," I grumbled, as Randolph wrapped his arm around my waist.

"You know I'm right," said Jeremy. "WOOD COMPLETES YOU!"

"I will kill you."

They all laughed easily. They knew I loved them too much to kill them.

"So what are you doing for Christmas?" asked Duncan, making space for me to sit.

"Derek probably has something planned. My parents are busy, so I go wherever Derek goes."

They nodded.

"Hey, ask your brother if you can stay at mine for the summer! We can wreak havoc in my house and drive my parents crazy," said Jason, and I hi-fived him.

"Totally. I'll have to spend only half my summer with you, though. Hermione's already asked me to come over because her parents want to actually meet me in person and all that jazz."

"You're quite fond of her, aren't you?" said Jeremy with a laugh.

I smiled sadly.

"She reminds me of someone I used to know."


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FORGOT TO POST. I'M SORRY.

“It feels so good to finally be heading home for Christmas,” said Wood, grinning at Katie who sat next to him.

 

“Our mums go crazy at Christmas,” she told me with a laugh. “Its ridiculous how into the season they are.”

 

I smiled at that. It was finally time for the Christmas break and we were all on the train, headed home. I was supposed to sit with my friends, but they were all off having last minute snogs with their respective others. Jeremy and Randolph had dragged Duncan off to do some mischief or the other. I figured out its always better not to ask them what they’re up to.

 

So, as a result, I was sitting with the Gryffindors.

 

“When I was in New York, Derek and I used to go to the center of the city, where they had a huge Christmas tree. We’d go just to see it get lit up. It was my favorite thing in the world.”

 

“Other than Quidditch of course,” said Angelina with a snort.

 

“Of course. After we watched the lighting of the tree, Derek and I would sneak into our indoor Quidditch stadium at school with the rest of the team and play a match.”

 

“I’m not even surprised,” said Alicia. 

 

“What are you doing this year anyway?” asked Katie.

 

“Honestly? I have no idea. Derek’s been incredibly secretive about it this year. I mean, if he was planning on just taking me to Germany, why the secrecy?” I said, making Wood snort.

 

“To meet that Captain?”

 

“Oh god, yes,” I said, sighing dreamily. “That man is a perfect example of what Adonis looked like.”

 

“Who is this?” said Alicia, perking up.

 

“The Captain of the Heidelberg Harriers. Have you seen him?” I said, brightly.

 

When she shook her head, I pulled out my magazine that Derek had sent me. It was the first time he was actually revealed to the media, so I wanted to keep it for safe keeping.

 

“This guy here,” I said, pointing at Daniel Eisenberg. “He’s absolutely perfect. And this is his boyfriend, Phillip Kaufmann. As if it wasn’t bad enough that they’re perfect, they have to be perfect  _ together _ .”

 

“They’re gorgeous,” whispered Katie, leaning forward.

 

“I know!” I wailed. “Just imagine how fucking perfect any offspring they have would be!”

 

Angelina and Alicia sighed, while Wood just groaned.

 

“Why am I even here?” he grumbled.

 

“Because your other friends are all off making out with someone,” I replied.

 

“That’s what Oliver usually does on the train back home for Christmas,” said Katie, offhandedly.

 

“There are people who want to make out with you?” I asked, surprised.

 

He glared at me, before it melted into a cheeky smirk.

 

“I’ve been told I’m quite a good snog. Wanna try me out?”

 

“I’ve punched Flint. You  _ know _ I’m going to punch you,” I said, glaring at him and he shrugged.

 

“But, Sanders,” he said, grinning. “Its just so easy to rile you up.”

 

I glared at him, knowing exactly what he was referring to.

 

“Oh, bite me.”

 

“Only if you ask me nicely, dear,” he said, and I kicked him as hard as I could.

 

“Goddammit Sanders!” he yelped.

 

Alicia watched us with a small smirk.

 

“So, Erica,” she said, smiling slightly. “I heard Oliver gave you his scarf.”

 

“Oh yeah!” I said, pulling it out of my bag. “Here. Thanks.”

 

He nodded, putting it into his own bag.

 

“Anyway,” said Angelina, giving Alicia a warning glare. “Has anyone asked you to the next Hogsmeade trip?”

 

“Other than Flint? Not really. If Duncan, Jeremy and Randolph aren’t busy, I’ll probably go with them.”

 

“Flint?” said Katie, laughing. “He actually asked you out?”

 

“I punched him,” I replied with a shrug. “Its like he never learns.”

 

“Erica,” said Angelina, slowly. “Do you even know what day our Hogsmeade trip is scheduled for?” 

 

“No? Does it really matter?” I said.

 

“Erica. Its Valentine’s Day. Your friends will probably be off with people anyway,” said Angelina.

 

I made a face. “Oh god. Its the one day of the entire year I absolutely despise. That amount of pink cannot be good for anyone’s health.”

 

Wood sniggered.

 

“Why must you be like this?” sighed Katie.

 

“You just sounded like my aunt. She tried setting me up with a guy two years ago. Didn’t end out well for anyone,” I said, brightly. “But in all honesty, if the guys are busy, I’ll probably hide out in the Library or try and hide in the Quidditch shop.”

 

“Or maybe you can actually say yes to someone?” said Alicia, with a smirk.

 

“I am  _ not _ saying yes to Flint. I’d rather spend Valentine’s Day with Wood. In fucking  _ Madame Puddifoot’s _ .”

 

Both Wood and I shuddered.

 

“Oh, come on Erica,” said Katie. “I’m sure there’s  _ someone _ you’d like to go with.”

 

“Nope!” I said, popping the ‘p’ obnoxiously.

 

“There are so many attractive guys in Hogwarts. Surely one of them is attractive to you!” said Angelina.

 

“They either have the brain of a troll or cannot play Quidditch. I don’t care how pretty the guy is, I am not going to date anyone who doesn’t meet that criteria.”

 

“Or you could go with Diggory,” said Wood, smirking to himself when all the girls turned to him.

 

“Why would I get in the way of the unfolding love story between Cho and Cedric?”

 

“Its  _ Cedric _ now, is it?” Wood said drily.

 

“Of course. We’re friends. Naturally I’d call him by his name.”

 

“Oh,” said Alicia, her smirk widening slightly.

 

We all turned to her but she just shook her head.

 

“Erica!” said Emily as she burst in with Andrew.

 

“Hey, Andrew,” I said, easily as I let the girl glomp me. He grinned at me, sitting down next to Wood.

 

“You have any clue what the guys are doing?” she said.

 

“I’ve decided its better if I don’t ask. McGonagall’s been eyeing me like I’m a bad influence,” I said.

 

“You’re a horrible influence. In fact, I think the only person who is a worse influence is Derek,” said Wood.

 

“I am a  _ great _ influence, Wood. Shut it. Though Derek is a horrible influence on anyone,” I said, as Alicia gaped at us.

 

“He’s met Derek and I’ve not?” she said, with a wounded expression.

 

“Don’t worry, Spinnet,” said Emily with a snort. “The only person in this compartment who has met the family is Wood.”

 

This made everyone snigger and I blinked in confusion.

 

“I don’t understand,” I grumbled. “Is the fact that I almost died because Wood has temper tantrums funny now?”

 

“I don’t have temper tantrums, Sanders. That’s all you,” he said, and I growled.

 

“Need I remind you that you were the one who used the dangerous spells? Not me.”

 

“You know what?” said Emily loudly. “Why don’t we go look for Trisha and Leah?”

 

“I don’t want to watch them snog people, Emily. That’s just awkward. Especially in the case of Jason. I never want to see him doing anything sexual. Its like imagining Derek making out with someone.”

 

“I’m sure they’re done now,” said Emily with a snort at the disgusted face I was making. “Come on.”

 

I shrugged and followed her out, but not before glaring at Wood, who glared back at me.

 

“Are the two of you ever going to get along?” she asked me, with an amused smile.

 

“Nope. I highly doubt it.”

 

“He’s not that bad a guy, Erica,” said Emily, with a small smile.

 

“He’s not a bad guy to everyone else. He oscillated between being half-way decent and being a douchebag with me.”

 

“To be fair, you try to bring out the worst in him.”

 

“You’re supposed to be on my side, Emily,” I grumbled. She squeezed my hand.

 

“I’m always on your side, Erica. Even when you don’t realize it.”

 

* * *

 

The first thing I did when I got off the platform was look for Derek. I immediately spotted him above the heads of the many parents and I ran to him, my pouch in hand.

 

I heard him laugh as he picked me up.

 

“Hey there, Ri-Ri. I see you’re absolutely fine. Is Oliver Wood still alive?” he said, and I laughed.

 

“Hey, that’s my brother you’re talking about, Derek,” said an amused voice, and I turned to see a slim pretty blonde with a single pink streak in her hair. Her bright blue eyes twinkled in amusement at the sight.

 

“You must be Wood’s sister. Might as well annoy him a little more by speaking to you,” I said, grinning at her.

 

“I like you. I’m going to keep you,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Abby Wood.”

 

I reached out to shake her hand once Derek let me go.

 

My hand was grabbed roughly and I was pulled into a hard, muscled chest. I blink in surprise before realized that it was just Wood.

 

“No. Absolutely not. You will never see her again. Go away, Sanders.”

 

“You’re being absolutely rude, Oliver,” said Abby, with a disapproving frown. Derek looked annoyed as he watched Wood’s hand around my wrist.

 

“Fuck yourself, Wood. I’ll talk to whoever I please.”

 

Abby snorted and pulled me into a hug.

 

“I like you. We’re going to be best friends.”

 

“We’re going to ruin Wood’s life,” I said cheerfully and she laughed again.

 

“Why is it always me?” Wood mumbled to himself.

 

“So where are you going this year, Derek?” I said, brightly.

 

“Well, see...the thing is. The Woods have invited us to their place,” he started.

 

“No. No. Absolutely not. Nope. NOPE. No offense Abby,” I said, and she waved it away carelessly.

 

“You have got to be kidding me. You want us to spend Christmas together?” 

 

“Well, not everything revolves around you, Oliver,” said Abby, with a grin. “We’ll all be spending Christmas together. Derek was telling us about how its usually just him and Erica for Christmas.”

 

Wood looked like he was having an internal battle.

 

He sighed.

 

“Fine. Whatever.”

 

“YOU COULD HAVE PUT UP MORE OF A FIGHT!” I yelled at him.

 

“Its Christmas. Oliver is always more of a bleeding heart at this time of the year. There is nothing in the world that would make him say no if he thought you were going to sit in your lonesome in some hotel somewhere. And don’t even tell me that would not be the case,” Abby said sharply, as I opened my mouth to deny it.

 

Derek looked slightly hopeful and the look on his face made me sigh. If I had understood Katie’s descriptions properly, Wood Christmases were a family occasion and Derek hadn’t had any of that for a long time. If Derek wanted to have a Christmas with more people than just me, I couldn’t really deny him that.

 

“Fine,” I grumbled.

 

“Great!” said Abby, brightly, as she wrapped her arm around me. “Don’t worry! This is going to be the best Christmas you’ve ever had!”

 

“Aren’t we gonna wait for Katie?” I asked.

 

“Katie’s parents usually take her out for lunch and then for some shopping here before heading home,” said Wood, gruffly.

 

I awkwardly nodded. 

 

“Oh! Daniel says hi! He finds your hero-worship adorable and wants you to let him and Phillip adopt you,” said Derek, and I couldn’t help the small smile.

 

“They can do whatever they want with me, any time,” I said, waggling my eyebrows.

 

Derek made a disgusted face.

 

“I never want to imagine that or think of that.”

 

Abby laughed.

 

“Where the hell have you been hiding this one, Oliver?” she said, wrapping herself around me. Wood looked like hell had just emerged from the ground.

 

“Like he could do anything like that,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He’d never be able to make me do anything.”

 

“That’s actually quite true. Trying to get her to see reason is like trying to convince Snape that he needs to start using shampoo.”

 

I glared at Wood.

 

“I am going to kill you and hide your body in a Christmas tree.”

 

“Going seasonal. I like it,” said Wood, drily. Abby watched us with an odd fascination.

 

“Are you two always like that?” she asked.

 

“Always like what?” I said, frowning at her.

 

“Nothing, nothing,” she sang, waving her hand as if to say it didn’t matter.

 

“Derek. What about Quidditch on Christmas?” I said, suddenly remembering.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” said Wood, and Derek looked at him like he had grown another head. “We have a quidditch pitch out back. Katie and I usually practice there, so you can play Quidditch on Christmas.”

 

“How do you know about Quidditch on Christmas?” said Derek, suspiciously.

 

“We were all talking about Christmas traditions. She mentioned it on the train,” said Wood, with a shrug.

 

“You were sitting together in the train,” said Derek, his eyes narrowing.

 

“Her friends were all off making out with each other so she sat with my chasers. I just happened to be there since Andrew and Percy were off making out with Claws.”

 

“Poor baby,” said Abby, mockingly. “Why don’t you find a nice  _ Claw _ for yourself?”

 

“I thought you already had a wife, Wood!” I said, scandalized. “How could you do this?”

 

“What?” said Wood. “I’m not married to anyone, you barmy lass!”

 

“So you’re  _ not _ married to your broomstick?!” I gasped. “I’m sure she’s heartbroken! How could you do this to her?”

 

Abby cackled pulling me to safety as Wood took a threatening step towards me.

 

“We should probably apparate to your place,” said Derek to Abby, who smiled and nodded

 

Looked like someone found Derek attractive. Abby was perfect for him. I smirked to myself, getting an odd look from Wood.

 

It was the last thing I saw before we apparated.


	11. Chapter 11

“I still hate apparating,” grumbled Wood from his position on the ground.

 

“Aw, poor baby,” I said, mockingly and he glared up at me.

 

“Seriously, Sanders. You are so lucky you’re not on my team. Otherwise you’d be doing laps for hours.”

 

“Please,” said Derek, helping him up. “She loves warm ups. She might actually get along with you if you actually gave her a reason to do them without making her look crazy.”

 

Both of Abby and I shared a look of amusement at our brothers.

 

“He’s a bit socially awkward, you know?” I told her conversationally. “If he thinks it’s getting awkward he does this weird ‘squirrel!’ thing.”

 

“Oliver has this tendency to ignore things in front of his face,” Abby said, nodding understandingly. “Its quite funny because he’s always the last person to realize things.”

 

“Oh my god,” mumbled Wood in an annoyed way. “Welcome to our humble abode, Sanders and Hale.”

 

I looked at the rather large cottage and smiled. It wasn’t so large that it could be called a mansion, but it was rather sizable. It looked like it had come straight out of a story book. 

 

“Its really pretty,” I said, and Abby grinned. 

 

“Thanks. Wait until you see the inside! The only place that is disgusting is Oliver’s room, which hasn’t been cleaned in forever!”

 

“Shut up, Abby. Why the hell aren’t you embarrassing Sanders?” Wood said to Derek, who shrugged.

 

“I like to stay on her good side. Plus, what am I supposed to say? Erica has this tendency to do extreme acrobatics on her broom?”

 

Wood gave him an odd look.

 

“Do you even realize how dirty that sounded?” asked Abby and Derek groaned.

 

“The images! Get them out!” wailed Derek, and I laughed.

 

Our ruckus had caught the attention of Mr and Mrs Wood, who came to the door to see us.

 

“Erica, dear! You look so cold! Come in! Oliver, you silly boy! Why didn’t you tell her to dress warm?”

 

Wood looked like he had swallowed lemons.

 

“She doesn’t listen to reason, Mum,” he said, finally, glaring at Abby who couldn’t stop sniggering.

 

“Derek, honey, take her stuff to her room,” Mrs. Wood continued, and Derek grabbed my pouch and ran up the stairs.

 

“Exactly how long has my brother been staying with you, Mrs. Wood?” I asked, suspiciously.

 

“Oh, just a week honey. Said something about reinforcements and precautions. We didn’t really ask. He’s been a great help around the house!” Mrs. Wood cooed, fussing over Wood.

 

“I’m sure,” I drawled, looking straight at Abby, whose eyes widened in surprise.

 

“Mum! Why don’t you make some hot chocolate for us and Oliver can take his stuff up? I’ll show Erica around the house,” Abby said, brightly, though her eyes looked a little frantic.

 

“Of course, Abby,” she said warmly, continuing to fuss over Wood, who just let her, with a small smile on his face.

 

“Be careful when you go past the dining room,” called Mr. Wood, warmly. “The preparations for the Christmas Party are going on there.”

 

“Yes, Dad!” called Abby, dragging me with her.

 

She continued to drag me through the hall until we finally stopped near a door.

 

“So,” I said. “You like my brother?”

 

“Shh!” she hissed. “He doesn’t know!”

 

I rolled my eyes.

 

“Obviously,” I said. “Derek wouldn’t see a good thing unless it hit him in the face like a freaking car crash.”

 

She blushed brightly.

 

“So...so you don’t have an issue with it?”

 

“Dude, I have no idea how Wood lost out on the awesome genes,” I said, as an answer to her question and she hugged me.

 

“Oh thank god. I was so worried you’d hate me!” she said, hugging me tightly. I patted her awkwardly on the back.

 

“What are you two doing?” said a voice, and we turned to see Wood giving us a weird look.

 

“Your sister and I have decided that for the betterment of society as a whole, we had to get married. No one else would be able to deal with our awesome-ness,” I said lightly, smirking at the boy.

 

“Get to the kitchen, Sanders. You look blue. Seriously, how the hell did you not learn from Hogsmeade?” he said, rolling his eyes.

 

I winked at Abby who grinned gratefully.

 

“Come on. I intend on making his life hell, so you can help me.”

 

“One of these days, Sanders, I’ll be able to not have to take care of you,” called Wood. “How the hell do I always end up being the one taking care of you?”

 

“Horrible luck!” I said, sniggering. “Or you know, brilliant luck!”

 

“Its the former!” he called back.

 

“You two are adorable,” Abby said, smirking.

 

“What?” I asked her, frowning.

 

“Nothing, nothing. You looking forward to the Christmas Party?”

 

“Christmas Party?” I said, frowning.

 

“Yeah, didn’t Oliver tell you that Mum goes mental with Christmas? It's just a bunch of families. Like, our extended family, some of Oliver’s friends’ families, some of my friends from work.”

 

“What do you do?” I asked her.

 

“I’m a reporter for the Daily Prophet. I do some of the Quidditch Sections.”

 

“That sounds like so much fun. If I was a Quidditch reporter, I’d be falling in love every day,” I said, with a sigh.

 

Abby gave me a confused look as we finally made it to the kitchen.

 

“Sanders has a thing for Captains,” said Wood, rolling his eyes.

 

“Does she now?” said Abby, smirking slyly at me.

 

“Its quite hilarious, actually,” said Derek, laughing. “She likes them from afar, because the moment they open their mouths, she ends up arguing with them.”

 

“Your sister is naturally argumentative,” said Wood, earning a glare from me. “I don’t think the other Captains are at fault.”

 

“Oliver! Can you two at least try not to argue?” Mrs. Wood said, admonishingly.

 

“We lasted more than two hours!” we said at the same time, like it was a great achievement.

 

In all honesty, the fact we were not hexing each other right now was a huge achievement. It was two hours of no quidditch related arguments.

 

“Wood refuses to agree that I’m better than him,” I told Mr. Wood.

 

“That’s because you’re not! You’ll see Sanders! No amount of fancy tricks are going to help you beat the Gryffindor team!”

 

“Please,” I said, waving my hand carelessly. “I expect you lot to actually be competition.”

 

As we bickered, Derek rolled his eyes.

 

“Neither of them even realizes that Erica just complimented him,” he said, sniggering as Abby shook her head in exasperation.

 

“Either stop arguing or make out,” said Abby.

 

“Ew!” we both said, pushing the other hard because, as usual, we had ended up quite close to each other during our argument.

 

“Drink your hot chocolate quietly, you two,” said Mrs. Wood.

 

“Sorry, Mrs. Wood,” I chimed, and Wood kicked me under the table when his mum turned around after smiling warmly at me.

 

“Kiss ass,” he hissed.

 

I kicked him back as hard as I could.

 

“Ass hat.”

 

We glared at each other, but smiled brightly the moment Mrs. Wood turned.

 

“I should leave you out in the cold,” he hissed at me from the corner of his mouth. 

 

I just smirked.

 

“Bleeding Heart.”

 

Abby sniggered from her seat next to me, while Derek offered to help Mrs. Wood with the cooking.

 

I couldn’t help but feel oddly content.

* * *

 

“Hey, Oliver!” called Derek, trying to get the younger man’s attention.

 

Oliver turned from his position on the steps outside the house, where he was polishing his broom.

 

It had been roughly two days since the holidays had started, and Derek was starting to get a little aggravated with how little he knew about Abby. He wanted to impress Abby, because...well, she was beautiful. 

 

She was quirky, funny, confident and such a goddamn beautiful person that he forgot about the pain caused by the death of his parents. There was only one other person who could do that, and that person was Erica.

 

There was no one who knew him as well as Erica did. He assumed the same was the case for the Wood siblings, so he needed to ask Oliver for help with choosing Abby’s presents. There was no better time, since Abby and Erica were watching/helping Mrs. Wood make pie. 

 

Rather, Abby was watching Erica and Mrs. Wood make pie, because no one should allow that woman near a kitchen.

 

Ever.

 

“I need your help,” Derek said, nervously rubbing the back of his head.

 

“I’m not going to set you up with my sister,” Oliver replied, darkly.

 

“What? No! I’ll charm her myself!” Derek said, and then immediately felt the tips of his ears turn pink. “What I meant was that I need you help finding a Christmas present for her.”

 

Oliver watched him like he was trying to figure out a puzzle.

 

“You know what? Okay, I’ll help you. But you’ll need to help me get stuff for your sister, because well. Christmas.”

 

Derek grinned.

 

“You’re not all that bad, Oliver,” he said, and Oliver rolled his eyes.

 

“You shouldn’t believe anything your sister says.”

 

“So this Flint character isn’t that bad?” Derek asked, as Oliver stood up to go back into the house.

 

“Flint is a prick, and your sister really needs to stay away from him.”

 

Derek raised an eyebrow, following Oliver into the house.

 

“But you’re there to look out for her right?” he asked, and Oliver turned to give him a weird look.

 

“I think her boys are around her more often than I am.”

 

Derek shrugged easily, smiling at the boy.

 

“Come on, your mum’s making pie with Erica.”

 

“Can that girl cook?” Oliver said, looking surprised.

 

Derek smiled sadly.

 

“I’m sure she’s told you my parents are dead and that she spends most of her time with me,” he said, and Oliver hesitated before nodding.

 

“Even though our parents are quite...well off, we’ve never really felt like we were any different from any other kid. We’ve never had house elves. Our chores had to be done by us alone. We were responsible for things.”

 

Oliver nodded. It was pretty much how it was in his own house.

 

“Erica has always been the kind who feels responsible for the things around her. When my parents died, I was one of those things.”

 

Oliver looked up at Derek who was sadly gazing at the younger girl flouncing about the kitchen with Mrs. Wood.

 

“Even though I’m the one who’s older...well, I’m ashamed to say that I wasn’t all there. I may have lost my parents, but in a way, so did she. She lost her god-parents and her own parents had to rush to make up for their loss in Coven. Our families have always been a source of power for each other. We’re incredibly close, and the entire coven shook with the loss of my parents. At the time, Erica was just 11, having just started school with me. We’ve never had dorms like you guys do. We had to maintain our own accommodation instead. Erica stayed with me. We weren’t present for a majority of the recovery process in the coven, because we both had to go to school.”

 

Oliver nodded.

 

“I was in a horrible state. I started smoking, started drinking. The only thing I even held on to was Quidditch because my father wouldn’t have wanted Erica to stop playing. I cut everything off. The school didn’t say anything because of the fact that I was under the protection of the Alpha Coven.”

 

Erica laughed brightly as Mrs. Wood said something to her, touching her cheek gently.

 

“Then, one day, Erica stayed up, waiting for me. She had made dinner for us, and she stayed up until 2 am, waiting for me to come home so we could eat together. It was only then when I noticed how much weight she had lost, the burn marks on her arms and fingers from her attempts to make dinner for us. I had completely forgotten that she was in just as much pain as me. I had left her to fend for herself, and she had stepped up without a single complaint.”

 

Oliver looked at Derek, who’s face reflected a pained look of guilt.

 

“I’m sure she doesn’t blame you for a single thing,” Oliver said, touching him on the arm briefly before letting go.

 

“You know what she told me?” Derek said, with a sad laugh. “Der! There you are! I made dinner! It’s your birthday so I thought I’d make something nice!”

 

He shook his head with a sad look.

 

“She didn’t even tell me to shut the fuck up and man up. She just...understood. She didn’t ask for any help from me. I had forgotten completely about my own birthday, but that lovely, beautiful girl practiced and practiced, until she was able to replicate my mom’s recipes. She didn’t complain about the fact that she was forced to be an adult at 11. She didn’t cry when she hurt herself because of the burns. She just smiled brightly at me when I came home in the middle of the night. An eleven year old girl stayed up just so she could wish me a happy birthday, regardless of the pain I had caused her.”

 

Derek shook his head. 

 

“Sorry. Usually Erica and I spend Christmas alone, and I try to cook for her until she laughs at my attempts and just takes the reigns from me, like she always has. I just...I just wanted you to know how much this means to me...to  _ us _ . Erica is much more than a competitive girl who likes aggressively arguing with people. I just...wanted you to know that.”

 

Oliver looked at his shoes awkwardly, not knowing how to respond to what Derek had said, or how to respond to the intense look in his eyes.

 

“Derek! You better not be consorting with the enemy!” called Erica, grinning. “Wood! I’ve been told so many stories about you!”

 

“Oh my god, Mum!” groaned Oliver, making everyone laugh.


	12. Chapter 12

“Thank you so much for doing this, Erica,” gushed Abby, and I grinned.

 

“You’re welcome, you silly woman. You’re helping me too, remember?”

 

“You already know what you’re going to get Oliver. Hush.”

 

“Its a joke gift more than anything,” I said, waving her words off. “I’m not going to just give him a joke gift!”

 

“You’re such a sweetheart,” said Abby laughing, just as Wood and Derek caught up with us.

 

“Shut up, I’m ferocious,” I grumbled.

 

“She really is. She punched a guy for asking her out,” said Wood, smirking.

 

“This is the same guy he decided to have a muggle brawl with because he checked me out.”

 

"Flint wasn't just checking you out, you oblivious moron. He more or less stated exactly what he wanted to do with you."

 

"Considering you're a failure at muggle fist fighting, Wood, it was an incredibly stupid thing to do," I said lightly, smirking when he growled at me.

 

“Erica doesn’t like it when people get in the middle of her battles,” said Derek, kicking the snow under his feet with a smirk.

 

I shrugged easily.

 

“I’d rather….hey!” I said, “Do you reckon that shop sells tea?”

 

The three looked at the shop I was talking about. Derek laughed.

 

“Yeah, it does,” said Wood. “Why?”

 

“Papa Sanders loves tea, but the kind we get in the states isn’t the sort he likes. He prefers the ones he can get here,” said Derek, rolling his eyes.

 

“Come on, Abby!” I said, brightly, “You can help me pick out tea for my dad! You two go do whatever.”

 

Abby snorted when Wood replied with, “Gee, thanks.”

 

I rolled my eyes but pulled Abby off with me.

 

“You’re incredibly good at that,” said Abby, smiling as she tightened her scarf. Mrs. Wood insisted I wear one of Wood’s scarfs and his sweater since all my winter clothes were deemed useless by her.

 

“Good at what?” I asked her as I sighed at the warmth inside the shop.

 

“Distracting people when you don’t want them to see something,” she said, watching me sharply.

 

I forced a smile on my face, mentally cursing her for being more observant than I gave her credit for.

 

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

 

She hummed agreeably and didn’t mention it again.

 

“Which kind of tea does your dad like?” she asked, and I snorted.

 

“I already have a gift for my dad,” I said, grinning, “It seemed like the easiest way to get away from those two to buy their presents.”

 

Abby laughed, wrapping her arm around me.

 

“This is why I like you,” she said, playing with Wood’s Gryffindor scarf. “You’re absolutely  _ devious _ .”

 

As we escaped the shop from the back door, I turned to say something to her, but my eyes caught sight of the new Nirvana album. I knew Derek would love it.

 

“Hey, Abby. Derek’s a fan of Classic Rock bands,” I said, pointing straight at the store. “Why don’t we go through those?”

 

“I don’t know much about muggle bands,” said Abby, fretfully.

 

“I do,” I said, grinning. “I think Derek would basically become putty in your hands for that second album of Nirvana’s. Its new and he’s not had the time to actually get it.”

 

Abby grinned, hugging me tightly before she scurried inside to buy the vinyl I had pointed out.

 

I smiled to myself as I took the chance to look at the shops around me. It wasn’t snowing anymore, but it was still very cold. I was quite warm in Wood’s sweater, which was a little large for me.

 

“Erica?” said a familiar voice, and I turned to see Katie gaping at me.

 

It was only then that I realized no one had told Katie that I was staying with the Wood’s for Christmas.

 

“Katie! Hey!”

 

“Erica, what are you doing here?” she said, moving forward.

 

“Well, you see,” I started, but her eyes zoned in on the scarf and the sweater.

 

“Erica...why are you wearing Oliver’s clothes?”

 

I sighed.

 

“Well, that’s because Mrs. Wood insisted I couldn’t leave the house in any of my winter wear.”

 

“And why were you in the Wood house?” asked Katie, slowly getting frustrated with my direct and short answers.

 

“Because Derek decided we’re spending Christmas with the Woods,” I grumbled, and she didn’t react for a moment.

 

It was only when Abby exited the shop a second later that Katie burst into laughter.

 

“Hey Katie!” said Abby.

 

“Hey,” Katie, replied, still sniggering. “Is it true?”

 

“That Erica’s staying with us for the Hols? Yeah. She is by far the best girl Oliver’s brought home to date.”

 

“It totally helps that I’m awesome and my brother is drop-dead gorgeous,” I piped up, smirking darkly when Abby blushed.

 

Katie didn’t even notice, she was grinning at the scarf around my neck.

 

“And where exactly is Oliver?”

 

“Off with my brother, cursing my existence while Derek listens with an amused grin, no doubt,” I said, shrugging. 

 

Katie just shook her head, amused.

 

“So you’ve been here for two days and you didn’t bother coming to my place?” she asked me.

 

Abby laughed.

 

“I don’t think Erica even left the kitchen for most of the past two days. She’s been baking and cooking with my mum.”

 

“Its too cold out here to even leave the house,” I grumbled.

 

“Seriously, woman. You need warmer clothes,” said a voice, and we turned to see Wood and my brother, who had evidently done a bit of shopping themselves, though the things they had bought was already well hidden, like we had done with Derek’s present.

 

“Katie,” I said, brightly. “This is my brother, Derek Hale.”

 

Derek nodded at her, reaching out to shake her hand.

 

“Its nice to meet you Katie. Ri-ri, why is that I’ve met more of your Gryffindor team than your Ravenclaw team?”

 

“The Gryffindor team isn’t mine, Der,” I said rolling my eyes as Wood said, at the same time, “The Gryffindor team is mine!”

 

Abby and Derek sniggered when Wood and I glared at each other.

 

“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” said Katie, grabbing our elbows. “Why don’t you two come with me, so we can all hang out. Abby, Derek. I’m kidnapping them.”

 

“Yeah cool,” said Derek with a grin. “Abby, you can help me navigate the area.”

 

“Yeah sure,” said Abby, with a sweet smile.

 

I mimed gagging after they turned away.

 

“They’re too adorable for words,” said Katie, with a sigh.

 

“That’s one way to put it,” said Wood, with a weird look on his face.

 

“The two of you are ridiculous,” said Katie, rolling her eyes. “Come on, I wanna show you the amazing places here! Oliver would have spent the past two day getting fussed over, now it’s your turn.”

 

He had actually spent the past two days brooding while his mum fussed over me, but I didn’t say that to Katie. Instead, I smirked at Wood, getting a glare in return.

 

Before I knew it, a lot of time had passed, and we had finished most of our Christmas shopping.

 

“Hey, look!” said Katie, pointing a group of people. Wood lit up and ran up to them. I assumed these were his muggle friends, and Katie winked at me.

 

I rolled my eyes. She was so freaking dramatic. She knew I needed a little time to rush back to one of the shops to buy Wood’s present, so she had agreed to distract him while I did so.

 

I had noticed a bunch of really pretty necklaces for the Chaser trio, but that wasn’t what I was trying to hurry to.

 

“Hey, Erica,” said the man I was running towards.

 

“Dylan,” I said, laughing. “Do you have what I asked for?”

 

When I was talking to Abby, she had mentioned that Wood was a huge fan of Puddlemere United. Dylan’s- who was my old Quidditch friend- dad was best friends with the captain of Puddlemere United, so I had sent an owl to Dylan, asking him to see if he could get me some autographed stuff.

 

Dylan wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug.

 

“You’ve grown. We really need to catch up some time,” he said, handing over a bag.

 

“What all did your dad get?” I asked, curiously.

 

“Well, if your friend’s a Puddlemere fan,” started Dylan, but I cut him off.

 

“He’s not my friend.”

 

He smirked. “As I was saying, he’d probably love the jersey and the Puddlemere Jacket. But I think what he’ll really like is the signed poster and the tickets to the next game.”

 

I gaped at Dylan. This was an awful lot to give, considering team merchandise was expensive.

 

“Dylan,” I started, and he waved it off.

 

“Let’s just say my dad’s quite concerned about how you’re doing here.”

 

I sniggered. Dylan’s dad absolutely adored me. He thought I was the spunkiest shit ever, and I entertained him to no end.

 

“I better go. Dad’s probably waiting up for me,” he said, kissing my forehead in a brotherly way, before moving away to apparate.

 

“Just one thing, Eri,” he said, smirking at me. “You have to know. This is an awful lot you’re doing for a guy who you claim is not your friend.”

 

With that parting shot, he apparated away, leaving me glaring at nothing.

* * *

 

“Oh damn,” said Katie, looking at her watch. “I have to get home!”

 

It was already dark outside, and we were all sitting in a meadow behind the Wood house. It was filled with snow and we were all sitting in it, staring up at the sky.

 

“Tell your mum I said hi,” said Wood, grinning at her, and Katie laughed, ruffling my hair before running off.

 

Wood and I sat in silence for a while before I moved to get up. He grabbed my hand.

 

“Where are you going?” he asked.

 

“Back to your house,” I said. “My ass is going to freeze off.”

 

“Nothing’s going to happen to your ass, Sanders. Sit down.”

 

I glared at him, but sat back down.

 

“Why the hell do you hate the snow so much?” he asked, flopping back into the snow.

 

“We’ve never had much snow back home,” I said, shrugging. “I don’t know how to deal with it. Its cold and wet and it makes me uncomfortable.”

 

“Don’t be such a baby, Sanders. Come on, lets make snow angels.”

 

“What?” I asked, frowning at him, praying to god I had heard him wrong. I didn’t want to get hypothermia. 

 

“You heard me, come on!”

 

I sighed, lying back on the snow behind him, grimacing as I felt the snow soak through his sweater.

 

We set about making our snow angels, our fingers brushing against each other every now and then.

 

“Okay, I’m done,” he said, and I immediately moved up so I could get out of the snow. Before I could get far, he grabbed my hand and pulled me back, and I lost my balance.

 

I winced as I landed on him. He was hard where I was soft, and I moved to get up, but before I could do so, he flipped us over so I couldn’t get away.

 

I glared at him, struggling as he laughed.

 

“Are you seriously scared of the snow, Sanders?” he taunted me. I tried to hit him, but he caught my hands, placing them above my head. He was grinning at me, his cheeks slightly red from the cold.

 

“Fuck you, Wood,” I growled.

 

He opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off by a new voice.

 

“What. Are. You. Doing. Oliver?” growled my brother’s voice and it was only then we both realized the position we were in. My hands were above my head, Wood’s hands keeping them there. In doing this, he had moved forward so that his face was close enough to mine to make the position look incredibly incriminating.

 

Wood scrambled off me, and opened his mouth make whatever excuse he was going to make. I pounced on him, and he yelped.

 

“You tried to give me hypothermia!” I yelled, as we rolled down the meadow.

 

“Stop being such a baby, Sanders!” he yelled back. We finally came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, and Derek was standing near us, looking incredibly angry.

 

“Both of you, in the house. NOW.”

 

We scrambled up and as we made our way to the house, Wood was swearing up and down that it wasn’t what it looked like.

 

“Seriously, Derek,” I said, as we entered the house where Wood’s parents and Abby were sitting.

“Its like you think Wood and I actually like each other.”

 

Wood scoffed at the notion, and I smirked.

 

Instead of the laughter we expected we had absolutely silence.

 

“But Oliver is a sweet boy, Erica! He’d be so good for you!” cried Mrs. Wood suddenly and Derek facepalmed.

 

I stared at the woman like she had just started spouting Latin at me.

 

“Mum!” said Wood, looking absolutely mortified.

 

“Are you telling me that you two don’t like each other!?” she said, looking devastated.

 

“Not at all!” we said together.

 

There was absolute silence again.

 

“Can someone get Sanders a towel so she doesn’t die of hypothermia?” said Wood, breaking the almost deafening, disappointed silence.

 

“AHA!” I cried, pointing at Wood angrily. “So you admit you were trying to give me hypothermia! NEWSFLASH WOOD! I’ll beat you at Quidditch even if they have to amputate my hand!”

 

“Are you a moron? You can’t get hypothermia that bad here!!” he yelled back.

 

“You’d try anything,” I growled and stormed off to my room.

 

The last thing I heard before I slammed my door shut was Wood’s frustrated yell as he went to his own room.

 

I sank to the ground, my back against the door. After staring at the floor for a little bit, I pulled out the bag of Puddlemere stuff Dylan had given me.

 

_ This is an awful lot you’re doing for a guy who you claim is not your friend. _

 

I frowned and shook Dylan’s words out of my head.

 

Wood and I were not friends, regardless of what anyone thought. We didn’t have a thing for each other. We were rivals. He hated me. 

 

Tomorrow was the Christmas Party, and the day after was Christmas day. 

 

I could do this, I could get through this holiday without killing Wood.

 

I flicked my wand at his present, and it packed itself with Quidditch themed wrapping paper.

 

At the end of the day, there was only one thing that remained.

 

Quidditch was everything. 

 

It was right then that Derek knocked on my door.

 

“Erica? There’s a letter for you. Its from your parents.”

 

Five minutes later,I was seated in an armchair near the fireplace, staring emptily at it, the letter in my limp hands.

 

_ Erica, _

 

_ The threat is gone. I would have prefered to tell you this in person, but unfortunately, due to the fact that...well. You’ll understand once I explain the situation. _

 

_ Erica, you remember the Werewolf clan in Louisiana, correct? A few years ago, they banished a man known as Bloody Death. He was the man who taught a man called Fenrir Greyback all he knows. They were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. A year ago, he came to New York with a very specific aim. To destroy you. _

 

_ You’re well aware that your survival is integral for the stability of the Alpha Coven. You and Derek are the symbols of hope for the next generation.  _

 

_ He knew there was a very easy way to get to you and she was next to you the entire time. He targeted Hailey Green, who was an incredibly easy target, given her being a werewolf in a school where she was treated like a virtual pariah. _

 

_ Erica, love. _

 

_ She was the one threatening to kill you, along with Bloody Death himself. She started to believe that the Ministry would have an anti-werewolf stance, even though the Alpha Coven has stood for Werewolf right for centuries. _

 

_ Your father and I are trying to make sure no one seeks you out right now. Your current location is a secret. This is the only reason we couldn’t be there for Christmas with you this year. _

 

_ Love, _

_ Your mother. _

 

“Erica?” said Derek, moving forward to touch me.

 

“The Dementor’s Kiss,” I said, blankly, staring at the fire.

 

Abby flinched.

 

“That was her punishment, wasn’t it Derek?” I asked, turning to stare straight at Derek, who couldn’t look me in the eye.

 

“Erica, do you need me to get you something? Maybe I can call Katie,” Abby offered, moving forward to drape a blanket across me.

 

“You know Abby,” I said, grinning in a way that made her take a step back. “It’s my fault. I was so caught up with my own stuff that my best friend turned to a man worse than Fenrir Greyback.”

 

“Erica,” she said, looking so worried it made me laugh.

 

“She was our age, you know? Hermione reminds me so much of her. That need to please, that insatiable thirst for knowledge. After all, when you have only one friend, books are the only thing you can turn to I suppose.”

 

No one said a word, as they watched me with horrified, morbid fascination.

 

“A Dementor’s Kiss was the punishment for a 15 year old misguided child, and all for what? A coward who ran away to another country. A coward who actually went and made a home in another country, who made new friends and almost forgot about her.”

 

Derek’s eyes were shut, and I could tell he was trying his best to ignore the emptiness of my voice.

 

“This is the society we live in. We don’t try to change people, we decide their fates for them. In a society that tries to be egalitarian, some are more equal than others. The poor and misunderstood are sent for slaughter at the Butcher’s shop while the rich and powerful frolick on their bones,” I said, a dark little smirk forming on my face.

 

Abby’s breath hitched.

 

“You would think that we’ve changed after Voldemort’s rise,” I said, relishing the way the three Woods and Derek flinched at the name.

 

“It appears we’ve not changed at all.”

 


	13. Chapter 13

I spent the rest of the night and the next day emptily staring out of my window. I didn’t want to ruin the Christmas Party for the Woods who had looked so hopeful in the morning, so I dressed up regardless of the dark cloud above my head.

 

I stared at the mirror. I was wearing a black top with gold chains draped across my shoulders and maroon pants. I finished it off with my black boots. It was the kind of thing you’d wear to a semi-formal event like this, and when Abby entered my room to check on me, she smiled.

 

“You look beautiful,” she said, smiling sadly at me, and I tried to smile back.

 

I could tell that she knew it wasn’t a real smile, but she evidently appreciated the effort.

 

"If you feel uncomfortable tonight, you can leave at any time," she said, cupping my cheek gently.

 

I nodded, my smile slightly more genuine.

 

When I came down, I smiled at Katie but my eyes were frozen on Wood who looked straight at me with an unidentifiable look, before turning back to whoever he was talking to. After that point, the night faded into a blur of unknown faces and empty smiles from me.

 

Finally, around 12, it got too much for me. I escaped the room, walking through the house with no exact aim. I just needed to breathe.

 

I tried my hardest to push down the tears. Suddenly, I collided with a muscular chest and I looked up to see Wood looking down at me.

 

He automatically glared at me and I glared back.

 

"Move," I said, not wanting him to see me cry.

 

"Sorry to disappoint, Sanders," sneered Wood. "But we're stuck."

 

He pointed up and I groaned. This couldn't be happening. Right above us was a mistletoe, effectively trapping us.

 

I pulled out my wand.

 

" _ Incendio, _ " I growled just as Wood yelped, "No!"

 

When nothing happened, I stared at it, confused.

 

"We use special mistletoe on Christmas," Wood said, his ears turning pink. "If we try to destroy it, it won't let us go till we....snog."

 

I huffed. 

 

"Absolutely not! The first guy I make out with will not be you!" 

 

"Oh, I suppose you want to wait here until a guy you approve of comes along?"

 

I glared at him, not able to contest with his logic.

 

"Look, we either do this now and pretend it never happened or we wait and argue until someone comes along and we have witnesses."

 

I sighed, nodding.

 

"Calm down, " he said, rolling his eyes. "You're not going to die with a small snog."

 

With that last statement, he cupped my cheek with surprising gentleness and pressed his lips against mine.

 

He didn't move them, just pressed them against mine so that we were just breathing each other's air for a moment. Then he moved back a little, and I opened my mouth to say something, when his lips claimed mine again. 

 

Now there was no denying the fact that we were kissing. Wood's left hand cupped my cheek and his right rested on my hip, not moving anywhere to cop a feel. He nipped my lower lip gently, almost like he was trying to calm a skittish animal. 

 

I wasn't some fragile princess he had to treat like a doll. I pressed against him, my hands resting on his muscular chest before slowly sliding up to wrap around his neck. His right hand moved so he was pulling me closer.

 

We were both breathing heavily and we hadn't even started actually snogging.

 

His tongue quickly flicked against my lower lip, and my breath hitched. His lips curled slightly against mine.

 

I couldn’t have him thinking he was better than me at this.

 

I pressed against him some more, letting our tongues touch and we were finally snogging.

 

I wasn’t sure how long we were snogging. His left hand moved from my cheek into hair, the warmth of it like a brand on my skin. I could feel the warmth spread all the way down to my toes.

 

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, we pulled away. For a moment, we just stared at each other, breathing heavily. His hair was messy and lips were red and swollen from my teeth. I had no doubt that my state was no better.

 

His eyes finally looked up at the mistletoe and reached his hand out to check if we were trapped.

 

We both let out a sigh of relief and without a single word to each other, we scurried to our respective rooms.

 

When I was safe inside my room, I touched my lips, eyes wide.

 

Outside my window, snow fell and the world was filled with an odd sort of fairy-tale glow. 

 

Shaking my head so that I didn’t think about what had just happened, I quickly moved to change so I could do some last-minute wrapping of presents.

 

It did not do well to dwell on things that would only confuse me more. It did not do well to dwell on the dead, those fallen in a war behind doors that they had no part in.

 

I breathed in deeply, and with the exhale, I let go of the memories of what Hailey had become and held on to the memories of what Hailey had been.

 

I chose to remember her the way she would have wanted to be remembered. 

 

I chose not to dwell on her soulless, empty shell of a body, because she would have wanted to be seen as the brave, smart girl she was.

 

Lost in my memories, I set aside the feeling of two warm hands on my body, and the feeling of soft lips moving against mine.

 

* * *

 

“ITS CHRISTMAS!” bellowed a voice, and I more or less fell out of bed in fright.

 

“Fucking hell, Derek,” I grumbled, moving towards the door.

 

“Wake everyone up!” yelled Abby as she passed my door to her parents’ door.

 

“There’s only one person to wake up,” I said, staggering a bit in my half asleep state, making my way to Wood’s room.

 

“Wood?” I called. “Its Christmas! Wake up!”

 

I could only hear loud snoring on the other side, so I decided to enter.

 

Wood’s room was filled with Quidditch stuff. It looked a lot like Derek’s old apartment. 

 

I tried my best not to step on anything since his floor basically looked...well, there wasn’t much floor to be seen, due to the mess.

 

“Merlin,” I mumbled, finally reaching his bed.

 

“Wood,” I said, poking him. “Wake up, its Christmas.”

 

There was no response from the lump under the blanket.

 

I poked a little harder.

 

“Wood?”

 

I let out a yelp as I was suddenly pulled into the bed and Wood- who was evidently still asleep- draped himself over me. 

 

And continued to snore, with me effectively trapped.

 

My eyes fluttered slightly at the overwhelming warmth inside the blanket, sleep suddenly trying to creep up on me again.

 

“Wood!” I yelled and Wood fell off the bed. I couldn’t help but smirk at him.

 

“What the hell? Why are you in my bed!?” he said, scrambling up, trying to cover himself since he was in nothing but his boxers.

 

“You tell me. You’re the one who pulled me in.”

 

I refused to look down at his muscular torso, keeping my eyes glued to his face.

 

“Why are you in my room?!”

 

“ITS CHRISTMAS!” bellowed Derek and we both flinched.

 

“Derek regresses at least 10 years every Christmas morning,” I said, getting off Wood’s bed, and it was only then I realized I was in just a baggy shirt. 

 

Well, I wouldn’t have realized if Wood hadn’t frozen in his search for a shirt and just stared at my bare legs.

 

“Eyes up here, Romeo,” I said, snapping my fingers near his face, and his eyes immediately snapped up, and small smirk forming on his lips.

 

Whatever he was going to say was probably going to piss me off, so I just escaped his room and ran down to the Christmas tree.

 

“Presents!” I yelled, jumping on Derek’s back. Mrs. Wood and Mr. Wood laughed from their place at the sofa as Derek ran around with me on his back.

 

Finally we stopped where Abby sat near the tree, where she had already segregated the presents.

 

“Oliver!” she yelled, and there was a loud thump and a series of footsteps down the stairs as Wood finally appeared with a shirt on. Abby glanced at his boxers and my pantless state and smirked to herself. I decided not to comment on it, because there was no use getting annoyed on Christmas morning.

 

“Come on,” said Abby, with a grin.

 

“Attack!” Derek and I yelled together, pouncing on our presents.

 

The first one I picked up was my father’s present to me. I set aside the letter, knowing it would be better to read it alone, and opened the box.

 

“Your dad?” asked Derek, his mouth filled with chocolate frog.

 

I grinned, pulling out the necklace. It was a necklace that was passed down from parent to child every generation. It symbolized the struggle of the witches and wizards after the Salem Witch Trials and the formation of the Alpha Coven and all it stood for.

 

“Its finally time, huh?” he said, a sad look on his face and I smiled back.

 

“It had to happen eventually.”

 

Abby was opening the presents from her parents and Wood was doing the same. I reached out to grab the one from my mother when I noticed the broomstick.

 

“Derek…” I said, my eyes wide. He grinned.

 

“Oh, its not from me,” he said, laughing. “Dan and Phil insisted you needed a good quality German broom.”

 

I grabbed it, ripping off the wrapping paper. 

 

“Is that a goddamn Thunderbolt?” said Oliver, gaping at it like a fish. 

 

“Holy Crap,” I said, staring at it.

 

Thunderbolt was a very new broom from the Thunderbolt company. It was new company and wasn’t as popular as the Nimbus Racing Broom Company or the Cleansweep Broom Company.

 

However, this model- the namesake- was available literally just to Derek’s Quidditch team. For all intents and purposes, the Thunderbolt was a prototype and nothing more.

 

“Aren’t you going to open anything else?” asked Derek, having moved on to the Bertie Bott’s box.

 

“I think I’m done,” I said, staring at the broom on my lap.

 

Abby and Derek snorted.

 

I set the broom aside gently and moved to my mother’s present again.

 

“Its probably a dress,’ said Derek with a snort.

 

“I’m sure it is,” I said, laughing as I opened it. My mother liked sending me dresses because 1. It annoyed the crap out of me, and 2. she knew I’d use my allowance to buy all the other stuff I’d need.

 

It was a flowery dress that would probably reach up to my knees and oddly enough, I kind of liked it. In general, I wasn’t fond of flowery things or dresses in general, but this one was simple.

 

I kept it aside and grabbed Abby’s present for me. It was a book that had recently been released on the Holyhead Harpies and I grinned at her.

 

Derek’s present to me was a Broomstick Servicing Kit, since my one was getting old and useless. Mr. and Mrs. Wood had gotten me the latest edition of Quidditch Through the Ages, which I was very eager to read. Hermione had sent me a bunch of muggle books I had mentioned I was interested in reading. The Chasers had all sent me Quidditch related books. Alicia had gotten me  _ The Beaters' Bible _ by Brutus Scrimgeour. Katie had given me  _ Beating the Bludgers - A Study of Defensive Strategies in Quidditch _ by Kennilworthy Whisp. Angelina had gotten me  _ The Noble Sport of Warlocks _ by Quintius Umfraville. 

 

All in all, it was a good Christmas. The last present was rather lumpy, and had only one word written on the card-  _ Sanders _ .

 

I glanced up at Wood, who had noticed that I had finally gotten to his present. When I opened it, I started to laugh. It was a whole bunch of sweaters and Ravenclaw themed scarves.

 

“This way you don’t have to take my clothes,” he said, grinning. “Go on. There’s more.”

 

I dug in and found a whole bunch of Holyhead Harpies merchandise.

 

“Oh my god,” I said, staring at it. “If I wasn’t in shock, I’d be laughing. Open my present, Wood.”

 

He opened the parcel and found the book first. “How to Be A Good Captain,” he read out and glared at me.

 

“Not that, you moron,” I said, rolling my eyes. He looked again and found the Puddlemere United merchandise and the tickets.

 

“Oh my god,” he said, grinning at me.

 

Derek and Abby sniggered at us. We had both gotten each other tickets for the next match, jerseys and signed posters.

 

“Come on!” I said, grabbing my new broom. “You and Abby against me and Derek! Mr. Wood? Mrs. Wood? Do you want to join us?”

 

“Oh no,” said Mr. Wood, laughing. “You guys go play. I’ll go make us all pancakes.”

 

“A fancy broom isn’t going to win you the cup, Sanders!” yelled Wood as he grabbed his broom.

 

“Oh, we’ll see! I can win even without this broom. Derek, you’re keeper right?” I asked, as we ran out of the house, and he nodded with a grin.

 

“Ha!” said Wood as we both flew to our positions. “We’ll see about that!”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit longer, because its one where I have fragments and bits and pieces of what happens in between. Its not a filler chapter, because some things that happen are important, but the time jumps are wider than the ones in the earlier chapters. :)

I yawned sleepily as I finally found an empty compartment on the train. The winter vacation had gone by incredibly quickly with preparations for the New Year’s party at the Bell’s place. It was just a huge blur of preparations and quidditch in my head. 

 

I looked out of the window to see that Derek had already apparated to the hotel his team mates were at. The Woods were no longer on the platform either, and I leaned back on the seat, letting out a sigh.

 

I didn’t want to think of the vacation, because regardless of the numerous quidditch matches and the parties, the ghost of Hailey stayed at the back of my mind. 

 

“Erica!” said a male voice, and I looked up to see Jason, who glomped me with his usual easiness. “I just ran into Wood. He said you stayed at his?”

 

“It was all Derek. It wasn’t too bad. While the two of us couldn’t really get along, Abby was amazing as was Mrs. Wood. Derek had fun too.”

 

“Wood...he said you may be a little off-center? You okay?”

 

I should have been angry that Wood told Jason, even in a vague sort of way, but I couldn’t help the rush of relief that I wouldn’t have  to keep it in.

 

I told Jason everything, from when Hailey and I met, all the way to what had happened to her. 

 

“She was amazing at everything she did. She was such a smart witch, smartest in our country, easily. She was just shy. America is very different from England. We...we don’t have the same sort of prejudices.”

 

Jason nodded, his hand holding mine tightly. No one else had turned up, so I assumed they were all sitting elsewhere.

 

“Its...for example, here there’s the whole blood prejudice. In America, we don’t really care about the purity of blood, its… more of how strong a family history you have. We don’t believe that muggles pollute the magic. Its how you survived, its how strong your family has been in times of atrocity. The Alpha Coven is the highest in the order. A coven is very much like a family, only its more than that. We’re not related by blood, necessarily. We are related by magical ties that the human mind can never hope to comprehend.”

 

I could hear students in the corridor, messing around, but I needed to get this out to someone. I couldn’t speak to Derek about this, because the look of anguish and self-blame on his face was too much for me to handle. I wouldn’t tell Wood, because we were not in that sort of a friendship. Whatever our relationship was, it was not one where we could show each other our weaknesses and our pains. While I might just end up telling Emily, I wasn’t as comfortable telling anyone other than Jason about what had happened with Hailey, simply because I felt like it was my fault. Jason had seen me struggle as a captain, even if I hadn’t let it show too obviously. He had seen the worry, the anxiety, the stress I had put on myself just for Quidditch.

 

He had seen me when I was weak and crying, so I felt safe telling him this too.

 

“So for us, other creatures, or people afflicted with particular...syndromes? They don’t particularly bother us. We insist, of course, to have them sent to packs to have them prepared for a life as a werewolf, but beyond that, they’re not really denied jobs and the like, like they are here. I’ve heard of people losing jobs for being werewolves, regardless of how competent they were.”

 

Jason sighed.

 

“Yeah, I read about that on the Daily Prophet last year.”

 

“And its horrifying for me, because my best friend, or rather the woman I used to call my best friend, was a werewolf. She was smart, she dreamed big dreams. She had a great future ahead of her. So what if she turned into a furry, overgrown puppy every once in a while?”

 

I realized my grip on Jason’s hand was getting tighter and tighter as I got more and more aggravated.

 

“Maybe,” I said, letting go of his hand. “Maybe if I had been a better best friend, if I had tried to be with her more, she wouldn’t have turned to him. Maybe if I had been better, I could have saved her. She would have still had her soul. It should have been me. It was me they were after.”

 

Jason grabbed my face gently.

 

“Listen to me, Erica. There are men in the world who don’t need to find a woman with a broken heart, or a little girl who is weak, to get what they want. In fact, I’m pretty sure being a girl or a guy has nothing to do with it. They’ll charm anyone. I highly doubt your presence in her life would have changed anything. He would have still charmed her into doing his bidding. Some people just have that charisma.”

 

I squeezed my eyes shut, unable to banish the picture of Hailey, soulless on the floor.

 

“And I’m glad, however morbid as it sounds, that it wasn’t you. I’m glad you’re my best friend. I’m glad you’re my captain. I’m glad I can see you sassing Snape and getting away with it. I’m glad I can watch you teasing McGonagall. I’m glad I can watch you arguing with Wood. Because it means you’re  _ alive _ . And I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who would say this. We’re happy you’re ours now. And we’re not going to let you go, we’re not going to let you fall. However much you want to drown in your sorrow, we’ll pull you out.”

 

I let out a shaky breath and nodded, smiling at him. He pulled me into a tight hug, letting me shudder against him as I felt all the self-loathing and pain just collapse inside me. I had a full blown panic attack right there in his arms.

 

I felt the air leave my lungs and I tried to breathe but just couldn’t. I felt my heart rate spike, the irrational thoughts flood my brain. I felt the tears of frustration hit me hard.

 

Throughout it all, Jason never let me go.

 

Not once.

* * *

  
  


It felt amazing to finally be back at Hogwarts. I was surrounded by my friends the moment we reached the station. It felt like I was finally back home.

 

“Hey, Erica!” called a voice, as we made our way through the hall and I turned to see Hermione running towards me. I laughed as she launched herself at me.

 

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” she chanted, referring to the book I had gotten her. It wasn’t easily available in the market, but I happened to have two copies of the book. It was about the entire history of standard spells.

 

“I’m glad you liked it,” I said, grinning. “How was Christmas?”

 

“It was alright. I’m excited to be back though,” she said, brightly, though she glanced anxiously at the Gryffindor table, where Ron and Harry were seated.

 

“Go see Harry and Ron,” I said, laughing. “I’ll talk to you later.”

 

She gave me a parting hug and ran off, making Emily, who had waited for me while the others went to grab a place at the table, laughed.

 

“You’re like her older sister,” she said, making me smile.

 

“I’ve always wanted to be an older sibling. I only have Derek, though I may just be the older one in that relationship.”

 

“Please, like you don’t treat your entire team like younger siblings.”

 

“I have no clue what you’re talking about,” I said, airily, making us both laugh after a second.

 

“Hey, Sanders!” yelled a voice, and I turned to see Flint, grinning.

 

“Flint. How was vacations?” I asked, forcing myself to be polite.

 

“Eh, typical. I just wanted to remind you that your next match is with me,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. “Just wanted to know if you’re prepared to lose.”

 

I snorted.

 

“We play based on the team we’re up against. Hufflepuff plays a fair game, so we play a fair, clean game. You don’t play fair, since you’re trying to make up for your lack of talent as a team. So we’ll play by your rules,  _ sweetheart _ ,” I said, viciously in his face.

 

For some odd reason, his grin became even wider. “Sure thing,  _ darling _ . I look forward to it.”

 

And with that, he strutted off.

 

“Erica...why was Flint flirting with you?” asked Emily, cautiously.

 

“He always does that,” I said, with a dismissive shrug. “I reckon he thinks it’ll make me awkward and unable to function, like Wood said.”

 

Emily opened her mouth like she was going to say something as we sat down with our friends, but just shook her head slightly.

 

I looked at her oddly, but Randolph caught my attention with some new Quidditch news.

 

As I ate my breakfast, I was completely unaware of the two sets of eyes on me. 

 

All I could think of was Quidditch- the two most important matches were coming up and we had to up the ante- and the OWLs were on the horizon as well. Considering I had taken so many subjects, I had to somehow manage studying for all of it.

 

Boys were, as usual, the last thing on my mind.

 

Unfortunately for me, they seemed to steadily be becoming more and more involved in my life, against all logic, and slowly worming their way through the strong walls I had set up over the course of many years.

 

I had seen how we had all fallen apart when Papa and Mama Hale were killed. I had seen the position they had been in when we got there. Reaching out to hold each other one last time. We were too late, they were gone. Even with that in mind, the only thought in my 11 year old mind was not that I had lost the two people I loved almost as much as my parents, but the fact that love was not something I ever wanted to feel.

 

I never wanted to have to be in that position where I tried to crawl into someone’s heart, or where, at the moment of my death, I tried to reach out to someone just so we could die together.

 

I didn’t want to feel that pain, that agony. That idea had stuck with me as I watched Derek fall apart, I had slowly convinced myself that love was not something I could handle.

 

Love only seemed to hurt those who felt it. I was happy that Derek had found Abby, but even then, I couldn’t imagine the feeling for myself. I liked it when my friends and family fell in love and became happier than ever before.

 

Love restored the people around me. But my fear of love overpowered the possibility of it being a source of happiness for me. 

 

So I pulled away from the thought, ensuring everyone around me was like a sibling. I made sure every guy I knew also knew that.

 

It was safer this way. I would not be weak, I would not allow anyone to hurt my family because I had been foolish enough to love.

 

I would be a liability, and I would sooner die than be one.

* * *

  
  


I was not at all surprised as we all ended up lining up in Quirrell’s class. Technically, Boggarts were merely 3rd year stuff, but it would be included in our OWLs so all the teachers were brushing up our previous year’s lessons. Because it was a brush-up session, they had combined the 6th years and the 5th years so as to make sure all the basics were covered. I was confused as to why they wouldn’t include the 7th years as well, but when I asked, Jason told me that it was because the 7th years had already done their revision of these lessons.

 

“D-d-don’t forg-get th-the w-w-word, ch-ch-children,” Quirrell stammered.

 

I breathed in deeply trying to calm my nerves. The last time I had faced a Boggart it had not ended out well. Flint turned around from his place down the line, and smirked at me, making me glare at him.

 

One by one, we all moved down the line. There were some rather standard fears- spiders, clowns, wasps. The hilarious results of the spell were amusing enough to make me forget what exactly we were doing, until Flint approached the boggart.

 

Immediately, it started swirling around and took the form of two adults that looked oddly similar to Flint.

 

Before the two could even open their mouths, Flint yelled, “Riddikulus.”

 

Just as it turned into a tap dancing clown, I realized who those two were. I felt my heart hurt for a moment, looking straight at Flint who met my gaze with a sort of sad look. He quickly covered it up with a smirk, but not quickly enough. I had seen the hurt, the anguish.

 

All because of his parents.

 

It made me wonder exactly how different the real Flint was from the one he projected.

 

By the time I snapped out of my thoughts, it was my turn, and I immediately felt the anxiety hit me.

 

I knew what it was going to be. 

 

The boggart, which was in the form of a figure skating cat, immediately changed into a 15 year old girl with bright eyes and pretty hair.

 

“Erica. Well, well, well. If it isn’t the deserter.”

 

I stood stiff, unable to move as the boggart’s lips formed a smile that made my heart hurt.

 

“You’re over here having the time of your life, aren’t you, you bitch?” it said, moving towards me. “While I’m lying somewhere after the Kiss.”

 

I knew the words, knew what I was supposed to do, but I couldn’t do it.

 

“I thought we were friends,” it snarled, “I thought we would stick together until the end.”

 

“Now just you watch, Erica,” it said, grinning widely in a way that made me flinch. “Watch as everyone you know and love dies because you couldn’t be strong.”

 

It reached out to grab my neck, to strangle me, with a high pitched laugh.

 

“RIDDIKULUS!” yelled two male voices, but my eyes were closed, already falling into the sea of despair and agony waiting for me.

 

“Goddamn it, Sanders,” said Wood, shaking me. “Snap out of it! That wasn’t her!”

 

I opened my eyes and saw Flint and Wood over me, looking oddly concerned.

 

“You okay?” said Flint, frowning.

 

“Move,” said another voice, and Jason’s face appeared, concerned.

 

“Erica, I need to take you to the infirmary,” he said, and I nodded.

 

“Its fine, I’ll take her,” said Flint and Wood at the same time.

 

“Like I’m going to let the enemy take me to the infirmary,” I mumbled, weakly, trying to get their attention away from the fact that tears of embarrassment and frustration were filling my eyes.

 

“This may come as a surprise to you, Sanders,” said Flint, chucking a handkerchief at my face in a manner that covered my eyes. “But not everything is about Quidditch. Heaven forbid people are actually concerned for you.”

 

“I’ll come with you,” said Emily, like Flint and I had not suddenly had a groundbreaking discovery in our non-existent relationship.

 

Jason and Emily helped me up and dragged me out of the classroom, as I tried to be as subtle as I could as I wiped the tears off my face.

 

“You wanna talk about it?” asked Emily as we made our way to the Infirmary.

 

I sighed, nodding.

 

When the hell had my life become a TV show?

* * *

  
  


By the time the whispers about my boggart and the theories died down, it was already time for the next Hogsmeade trip. I rolled around in my bed, not really wanting to get out. All the girls in my dorm were running around trying to get ready.

 

“Seriously Erica,” said Emily as she styled her hair. “You’re going to have to move out of bed eventually.”

 

“I have another fifteen minutes.”

 

“Nope. Get out. You’re not going to go for the Hogsmeade trip looking like a hobo.”

 

“I don’t even have a reason to dress up!” I said, but let Trisha and Leah drag me out of the bed.

 

“Go have a quick bath. If you don’t come out in 5 minutes, I will come in there.”

 

“Does no one in this goddamn school understand that I am naked when I bathe?”

 

The three sniggered as they went through my clothes.

 

“Oh my god, Erica,” said Emily from outside as I tried to bathe as quickly as I could.

 

“Huh?” I yelled back.

 

“Where did you get this dress?”

 

“I assume its the flowery one? Mum likes giving me dresses for Christmas. Mainly because it annoys me.”

 

My response was met with absolute silence, and when I finally made my way out, I realized why.

 

The three girls had brandished their wands. From the way they were standing, you would think they were going off to war.

 

“Absolutely not,” I managed to get out before they pounced on me.

 

The next five minutes were pure torture as I basically tried to get away as they “prettied me up”. 

 

My hair was now curled, make up applied on my face, dress on.

 

I grumbled as they finally got off me and dragged me out of the dorm.

 

“Could you at least try not to stomp like a caveman?” asked Leah, grinning at the dark look I gave them.

 

“You need to be nice today, okay?” said Trisha, anxiously.

 

“What? To who?”

 

“The people who give you Valentine’s Day gifts,” said Leah, patiently. “The trick is not to eat them because some guys use love potion in their chocolates.”

 

I snorted. “I’m not going to get V-day gifts.”

 

“I don’t know how you manage to stay so oblivious.”

 

I shrugged, ignoring their amused looks as we got to the Great Hall.

 

It seemed we were some of the first girls there, and just as we were about the make our way to our seats, a whole bunch of first years ran up to me.

 

“Erica, Erica,” they chanted, thrusting their gifts at me.

 

“Um, guys, what is this?”

 

“They’re Valentine’s Day gifts,” said Harry, a bright pink flush forming on his face. I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face as I thanked them. I swear that even that blonde slytherin called Malfoy shoved one into my hand before scurrying off.

 

“I think my heart just melted into a pile of goo,” I said, my eyes wide as I looked at the girls.

 

“Well, by accepting their gifts, you’ve just opened up yourself to everyone else who wants to give you gifts.”

 

“Aw crap. Can’t I just claim moment of weakness?” I said, a small smile on my face as I sat down, placing the gifts on the table.

 

“You’ve already got gifts?” said Jason, surprised.

 

“First years all got to her first. I don’t think anyone stands a chance after Harry Potter and Ron Weasley handed her their gifts.”

 

“Our brother’s got game?” said two voices and we all turned to see the Weasley twins.

 

“We got you something, Erica,” they sang and dropped two small packages in front of me.

 

“This isn’t going to explode in my face is it?” I asked, cautiously.

 

They cackled.

 

“Don’t worry. Its just in case you need it. The boys of Hogwarts tend to get a little...eager, on Valentine’s day. This should knock a crowd out, easily.”

 

“Thanks!” I said, brightly, as everyone around me groaned.

 

“You two are such enablers.”

 

Fred grinned, glancing at the Gryffindor table.

 

“We knew it would annoy our captain, so why not?” they both said, waggling their eyebrows.

 

I ignored them in favour of focusing on my food. It seemed like a better idea than looking at the couples surrounding me. 

 

Finally, breakfast was over and we all managed to escape the hall with minimal interaction with other people.

 

All my friends either had dates or detention. Meaning Randolph, Duncan and Jeremy were all in detention for something or the other, while the rest of my friends were on dates. So I ended up roaming Hogsmeade alone, trying my best to be just a little faster than the boys following me. It wasn’t nearly as large a group as Emily and Trisha had prophesied, and they stayed at a distance for a majority of the time. 

 

I decided that my best bet was hiding out in Honeydukes, since no one else would be there, considering they would all be on dates or somewhere not filled with Valentine Candy. I was quite pleased to see that I was right. Honeydukes was rather empty, so I hid in the chocolate frogs section.

 

“What are you doing here?” said two male voices, and I looked down to see Flint and Wood, both looking rather annoyed. Since I was well aware that prolonged exposure to each other tended to give rise to that emotion in the boys, I was relatively unfazed.

 

“Hiding,” I replied. “Those boys have kept their distance so far, so they’ll wait outside.”

 

“Lucky you,” grumbled Flint, making space for me between him and Wood. “I swear to god I saw a couple Claws out there.”

 

Wood sighed. “Why does this always happen?”

 

“If you wanted to avoid it, you could have just asked someone to pretend to be your date,” I said, with a shrug, frowning slightly at the new kinds of licorice sticks about our heads.

 

“And why are you not with anyone then?” said Flint, rolling his eyes.

 

“Because no one is going to come close enough to give me their chocolates. Those are the perks of being terrifying.”

 

“You’re as terrifying as a mouse,” said Wood, rolling his eyes.

 

“Speak for yourself,” said Flint, reaching out for a chocolate frog. “I think she’s terrifying.”

 

“Thanks Flint!” I said, grinning.

 

He nodded, frowning at the chocolate in his hand for a moment before handing it to me.

 

“I’m not going to steal chocolate, Flint!” I said, looking at him disapprovingly.

 

He rolled his eyes. “Just take it. I’ll pay for it.”

 

“Okay?” I said, uncertainly, taking it out of his hand. 

 

“Here!” growled Wood, dropping a box of Bertie Bott’s in my lap.

 

“Thanks?”  I said, my confusion rising as the two boys glared over my head. 

 

Suddenly I had sugar quills, cauldron cakes, crystallized pineapples, liquorice wands and god knows what else dropped in my lap.

 

“STOP!” I yelled angrily. “Thanks to you two, I look like I  _ walked through a sugar mill _ !”

 

I flicked my wand and everything went back to its place. The two didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed. They were still glaring at each other, like they were preparing for an Alpha Male piss-fest.

 

“You know what,” I said, as I smirked at the small ball the twins had given me. “You two can stay in here hiding. I’m going to get out of here.”

 

“What?” they both said at the same time. It was amusing how similar they were, even though they both insisted on hating each other.

 

“I just remembered that Fred and George gave this to me,” I said.

 

“Are you sure its a good idea to use anything those two give you?”

 

“They seemed genuine about it,” I replied, with a shrug. “Said it would help stun a crowd so I could get away. I have no clue why they thought I’d have half of Hogwarts after me, but well, its nice they think I’ve got game.”

 

I didn’t wait for them to respond, and just got up, smiling at the clerk as I made my way out. When I chucked the stuff into the crowd, there was a loud bang and suddenly, instead of a huge mob of boys and girls, I had a whole lot of chickens.

 

“WEASLEYS,” I roared, frightening some of the chickens as Wood and Flint came out.

* * *

 

It was the day of the Slytherin match. I stared at my bacon, but for some reason, the nervousness around me was getting to me. Even when Wood nodded at me, I couldn’t respond properly.

 

Slytherin, I supposed, was really my only actual worry, because they played dirty. They played very dirty, and after a long discussion with my team, we had all decided that we would not lower ourselves to their level.

 

We could have handled playing dirty, but neither the team nor I were really willing to do that. I could see that Andy and Percy were in Ravenclaw colours and I tried to smile through my nervousness.

 

There was suddenly a tap on my shoulder.

 

I turned and saw Wood, an odd look on his face. Then he deliberately pulled off my scarf and put it on himself.

 

“I’m actually rooting for you this time,” he said, with a smirk, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“No banner for me?”

 

“Only if you hit Flint for me,” he said, cheekily and walked off, as my team members hid their amusement. 

 

Somehow, that moment had cheered me up a little.

 

It wasn’t long before I was standing in front of my team in our tent, a serious look on my face as I watched Grant shuffle nervously.

 

“Slytherin fights dirty. We all know that. The fact that we’ve decided to play clean may be the cause of our loss, but I want you all to know one thing. We’re a new team. We’re a good team. But those boys have been together for much longer than us. They know how to hurt us, how to break us apart. Its what makes them Slytherins. But we are all Claws. We can outsmart them. I want you to go out there and not think about the winning or the losing. I want you all to go out there and outsmart them. I know you can do that. Make them remember that we are not a joke. We are a formidable team, even if we are new.”

 

Jason and Randolph smiled and nodded.

 

“My father used to tell me when I was younger, that dreams can come true. But for that to happen, we need to make it come true. We can’t just sit and wait for it. And that is what we’re doing. Regardless of what happens today, its just one more step towards our dream of getting the cup. One loss does not mean we won’t win the cup. We still have our match against Wood.”

 

Cho and Jeremy snorted, while Duncan mumbled something about the match being against the Gryffindors and not Wood.

 

“Are you ready guys?” I said.

 

They all cheered loudly, grabbing their brooms.

 

I grabbed my Thunderbolt, a determined expression on my face.

 

I was going to take down Flint. Personally. My lips curved into a smirk that made Jason mumble something about me getting ready to destroy Flint.

 

“Let’s get on it, team. We have some snakes to take down.”

 

I quickly grabbed Cho’s arm before we approached Flint, who was waiting for us with Hooch.

 

“You know what to do,” I said, quietly.

 

Cho nodded with a smirk.

 

With that, we marched onto the field, the sound of the cheers loud and encouraging. After a quick handshake with Flint, who looked as serious as I did, we all took to the air.

 

We got the quaffle first but the Slytherin beaters managed to hit Jeremy hard enough to make him drop it. I could see that the Slytherin chasers were playing incredibly dirty, shoving us, pushing us.

 

I managed to get a hold of the quaffle and sped towards the hoops, ignoring the bludgers that almost hit me. I managed to get one in, ignoring the pain of the bludger colliding with my side.

 

“You okay?” said Randolph, worried. I nodded, waving off his concern. 

 

After that, most of the match was a blur. All I knew was that we were losing, because they were playing particularly dirty today. They were already at 170-10, which meant that regardless of whether or not we caught the snitch, we would lose.

 

However, I was incredibly proud of my team, because regardless of the fact that we had more or less lost, they were still fighting incredibly hard. I saw Cho give me the signal that she was off to catch the snitch, and at that very moment, the quaffle was dropped into my hands. 

 

I smirked, staring straight at Flint. With one hand firmly holding the quaffle and the other tightly gripping my Thunderbolt, I pushed the broom to full speed, heading straight at Flint, the only thing between me and the Keeper. 

 

Several things happened at the same time. Cho’s finger’s touched the snitch, I collided straight into Flint, my right arm immediately flinging the quaffle into the hoop, and a bludger collided with me.

 

Both Flint, unconscious due to the force of impact, and I fell towards the ground.

 

The last thing I heard before everything turned black was Wood’s frantic voice calling my name, telling me to stay awake.

 

I never was good at listening to him.

* * *

 

“Where’s the broom?” I said, the moment I opened my eyes, and Jason groaned in exasperation.

 

“Its fine,” said Emily, soothingly. “Wood’s gone to get it for you.”

 

“How long was I out?”

 

“Just a couple of hours. We were all more worried about you instead of your broom. Of course, Wood’s first concern after he panicked over your unconscious body was your broom,” said Jason, snorting.

 

“Ah, Miss Sanders! You’re awake! You’re fine to go. You’ll bruise a bit from the bludger but it didn’t break anything,” said Pomfrey as she passed.

 

I grinned, leaping out of the bed, wincing slightly at the twinge in my hip from the bruising. Jason’s arm shot out like he was about to catch me in case I fell. I grinned, only then noticing that the team wasn’t there.

 

“The team left about an hour ago,” said Jason, conversationally, his arm wrapping around me like he was afraid I’d collapse.

 

“I’m so damn hungry,” I mumbled, hoping the change of the subject would not only soothe his evident nerves but also stop Emily’s ‘thinking face’ which she had only when she was trying to deconstruct me.

 

Of late, that facial expression was becoming more and more common. I had seen her running off with Andy- not surprising considering they were absolutely ass over tits for one another, and we were all expecting them to put a label on it very soon- with the same expression as she glanced back at me.

 

“Why don’t we go to the Kitchens? I’m sure you can get some bacon now, regardless of the fact that its past dinner time,” said Emily, smirking at the mock glare I sent her way.

 

Jason just laughed, his arm still draped around me, and it was only then that I realized his hands were shaking a little. As Emily ran up to Pomfrey to make sure I didn’t have to do anything extra for the bruises, I turned to Jason, a small smile forming on my face.

 

“I’m fine. It happens,” I said softly, squeezing the hand that was draped around me.

 

“You didn’t see it happening, Erica,” he said softly. “I should have been paying more attention, should have stopped that bludger.”

 

“There are always going to be bludgers you can’t stop, Jason,” I said, completely understanding the feeling.

 

Jason sighed, nodding in agreement as I squeezed his hand one more time before slipping out of his embrace and walking up to Emily.

 

Emily seemed far more calm than Jason, though it was probably because by now, she was used to me doing stupid things. 

 

“Get the yelling done with,” I mumbled, and Emily sighed as we all walked in the direction of the kitchens.

 

“What were you thinking?! That was the stupidest thing I’ve seen anyone do! Even stupider than the shit the Gryffindors do!”

 

“Oh wow, that’s an insult,” I said, in an attempt to calm her down.

 

“Do you not realize that you could have gotten seriously hurt? We were beside ourselves with worry! Wood looked like he was doing that stupid Gryffie self-blame thing, because apparently there was a promise of a banner! I swear to God, if that was why you did it, I will kill you myself!”

 

I stepped away from her angry glare.

 

“Why the hell would I do it for Wood? It was me showing Flint that he may have won, but there was nothing to be proud of! I mean, Derek and I were talking over the holidays, and he reminded me about something I had suddenly forgotten about Quidditch. The best team isn’t the one that always wins but the one that always plays a good game.Plus, the Slytherins can’t even party it up because they may have won but we caught the snitch AND their captain fell off a broom,” I said, shrugging.

 

“I feel like I just witnessed some personal growth,” said Jason, suddenly pitching in as he tried to light heartedly calm down Emily. 

 

Emily sighed.

 

“I suppose its too much to expect you to not to stupid things when you’re playing Quidditch, isn’t it?” she said, with a sigh, her anger draining from her.

 

Immediately, I felt bad. I had obviously made both of them worry quite a bit.

 

“If I could promise you that I’d make sure I wouldn’t get hurt, I would. But Quidditch is a rough sport, its going to happen regardless,” I said, brushing my hand against Emily’s, making her smile.

 

We continued to the kitchens in silence. I’d never had a set of friends who felt so much like a family before. Hailey and I had been close, but she’d never felt like a sister. I loved my old team, but they had never felt like family.

 

Ever since I was a child, family had somehow always been someone in authority. As a person who was expected to be able to take that position of authority when the situation required it, I was expected to know how to handle the people around me.

 

At some level, I had gone into the role of the captain with that mentality- that I was supposed to guide them, that I was their leader. I hadn’t realized that a Quidditch team was much more than that. 

 

Somehow, Hogwarts had shown me that a Quidditch team was more than just a team of skilled players, guided by their captain, but also a family. And somehow, in this entire journey, Hogwarts had also given me a place to call home and two best friends that I could rely on.

 

After filling my stomach with bacon, we all made our way to the common room.

 

“Goddammit! I’ve been standing out here forever!” I heard someone yell angrily, and as we made the turn into the corridor where our dorm was located, I saw Wood, with my Thunderbolt in his hand. He was glaring at the large raven statue in front of him, which usually gave us riddles to solve.

 

“Having difficulty with the riddle, Wood?” I drawled, a small smile forming on my face as he whipped around at the sound of my voice. His face did something weird, before it settled on his usual aggravated facial expression.

 

“I’ve been trying to get in for the past half hour, in an attempt to get into your ruddy common room,” he said, shoving my broom into my hand. I couldn’t help the snigger that slipped out of my lips, and his glare intensified.

 

“What kind of room has no doors or windows?” said the statue impassively, like the idea of Wood waiting outside to give me my broom wasn’t both endearing and hilarious at the same time.

 

“A Mushroom,” I replied easily, and Jason and Emily, who I had suddenly forgotten when I had seen Wood, quickly hurried into the common room. 

 

“Thanks,” I said, turning back to him, but there was a weird unreadable look on his face again. He simply nodded.

 

I turned to enter the common room, slightly confused.

 

“Hey, Sanders!” he called suddenly, and I turned.

 

“Good game,” he said, a sudden warmth on his face, a look I had last seen on his face when we were playing around in the snow. 

 

With those parting words, he disappeared, leaving me confused and oddly flushed.

 

Emily looked at me with that look again, but wisely said nothing as I hurriedly got into bed.


	15. Chapter 15

“This is getting really annoying,” said a voice behind me, and I turned to see Wood. He wasn’t looking at me but at the retreating bodies of Andy and Emily.

 

“I think its adorable,” I offered, but he gave me a knowing look.

 

“Don’t pretend that you haven’t seen the looks they’ve been giving us. If it was just them going off to have a good snog, it would be different. But as of late, Andy’s been giving me weird looks, and I’ve noticed Emily giving you the same looks.”

 

I couldn’t help the sigh I let out as I closed my book, watching the two hurry away from the tree I was sitting under.

 

“Regardless, I can’t help but feel like we really do not want to know what they’re talking about.”

 

Wood gave me an odd look.

 

“You can’t seriously be saying that you don’t want to know,” he said, looking surprised.

 

“I’m not saying I don’t  _ want _ to know. I’m saying that, once we find out, we’re going to wish we never knew.”

 

“That makes no sense,” he said, frowning. “Are you coming with me to spy on them or not?”

 

I sighed.

 

“Fine, but I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so.’ Also, I think we should also note that its starting to get dark. Is this really the best time?”

 

Wood pulled me up and snorted.

 

“Yeah, like you’re actually bothered about the rules.”

 

“Hey,” I said, automatically offended. “I could be!”

 

He shook his head, still amused, automatically picking up my bag to hand to me. I took it from him and chucked it at Jason, who was sitting under another tree with Trisha, no doubt being disgustingly cute.

 

“Hey, Jason. Keep this for me would you?” I said, and he gave Wood an odd look before nodding at me, before we both hurried in the same direction as Andy and Emily.

 

“I would like to say that I am absolutely certain this is a bad idea,” I mumbled as we hid behind some trees as we watched the two.

 

“Yeah, yeah. If this goes badly, you can blame it on me,” he said, rolling his eyes before pulling me down into the bushes. “Now will you shut up?”

 

“I wish….could see…..annoying,” I heard Andy say, and I frowned.

 

“I can’t hear shit,” I mumbled, glaring at Oliver, whose arm was still around my waist.

 

“Dammit,” he mumbled, like he hadn’t accounted for this. “We’ll have to make do with this.”

 

“I swear....hopefully….adorable,” Emily said, and I tried to shift closer in an attempt to hear her clearer.

 

We both froze as the movement made the bush rustle, and Emily turned and looked straight at the bush we were hiding in.

 

“Come on….curfew….late,” I heard her say, and they both left.

 

Once they were out of hearing distance, we both let out a sigh of relief.

 

“You idiot!” said Wood, whacking my head lightly. “We almost got caught!”

 

“You seriously didn’t even think this through! What the hell did we even find out?” I said, annoyed as we both shifted and struggled to get out of the bush. Somehow, getting in was a lot easier than getting out.

 

“Goddammit, Sanders, you’re making it worse!” he grunted from behind me.

 

“Stop pulling me back in!” I yelped.

 

Someone awkwardly cleared their throat just as Wood’s head popped out of the bush.

 

We both immediately froze, and I felt my blood turn to ice except where Wood’s hand pressed against my lower back.

 

“Erica,” said the incredibly familiar voice, and I looked up to see Jason’s incredibly confused face. “Why are you and Wood in a bush?”

 

“Um…” I started, feeling oddly embarrassed. “There is a perfectly logical reason for that.”

 

“I’m sure,” Jason drawled, looking more and more amused by the second.

 

Wood opened his mouth to say something, but I immediately cut him off.

 

“Don’t say a word, Wood. You’ve already done enough,” I said, struggling a little and Jason snorted before pulling me out, doing the same for Wood.

 

He opened his mouth again, looking at me and I put my hand up.

 

“Not. A. Word. Nope. I don’t want to speak to you again.”

 

With that parting shot, I stormed off, but not before I heard Jason say, “She seems really embarrassed. Was snogging you that bad?”

 

I felt my ears get warmer, memories of warm lips against mine and warm hands gently holding me flooding back into my brain. My breath hitched suddenly, my heart beating faster.

 

I ran past a confused looking Trisha, not wanting to deal with anyone when I was in such a weird state.

 

I was sure I was coming down with something.

 

* * *

 

I stared down at the parchment in front of me, fiddling with the quill in an effort to structure my thoughts.

 

_ Dear Derbear, _

__ _ You’re probably busy with Quidditch right now. I don’t want to be too much of a bother, but there’s something wrong with me, and I honestly have no idea what. _

__ _ Before you panic and head to Hogwarts, I should probably tell you its not a physical issue. I appear to be having weird emotional responses to things, and I honestly don’t understand what is going on. _

__ _ I wanted your advice of it, since you would probably understand it better than me. The symptoms are as follows: confusion, irritability, sudden anger, apprehension, heart palpitations, irregular breathing, mood swings. _

__ _ Oddly enough, these symptoms appear only around one guy. Am I allergic to him? _

_ Love,  _

__ _ Erica. _

 

I stared at the parchment, feeling slightly stupid, because I had the feeling that as a 15 year old, I should be able to comprehend all of this emotional crap. However, given the fact that I spent most of my time with Derek- who appeared to miraculously understand emotions while I ended up emotionally stunted- probably explained a lot about me.

 

When I was younger, after Derek finally snapped back to reality after the fire, Derek’s friends were always over- sometimes with food, sometimes just to hang out. I was so used to hanging out with emotionally constipated boys that I couldn’t help but pick up their habits.

 

Yes, I was going to blame this all on Derek and his stupid friends.

 

I glared as my owl flew away with the letter, hands shoved into the pockets of my giant jacket. I had gotten it from Derek when he suddenly hit a huge growth spurt and started gaining muscle. Whenever I was upset or unhappy, I would wear the jacket because it was always warm, reminded me of Derek, and home.

 

I made the journey back to my common room, lost in my own thoughts.

 

“Wood, stop it!” I heard Katie’s voice yell around the corner, and I turned immediately, forgetting that I was trying to avoid Wood, since he seemed to be the source of my issues.

 

When I saw them, I saw a second year I recognized.

 

“McLaggen, what are you doing?” I said, and was amused to see him turn red as the other two turned.

 

“Oh, Erica! Love of my life, Light of my stars!” he said, dramatically. “I was just telling Katie here all about my life-encompassing love for you!”

 

“I’m sure,” I drawled.

 

“More like he was making incredibly disrespectful statements about Katie,” growled Wood.

 

“And you were going to get into a fight with a second year. Seriously, Wood?”

 

“Don’t listen to them Erica! We’re going to get  married to each other! No one will ever understand our love for each other.”

 

“ _ Your  _ love for me. Its an unrequited love,” I responded, but I couldn’t help the amused smile on my face.

 

Wood, on the other hand, looked ready to kill the tyke.

 

“Wood, seriously. He’s just a harmless second year who enjoys hitting on older girls,” I said, ignoring Cormac when he said, “They’re all girls, you’re a real woman!”

 

“I swear to god, brat,” Wood, growled at him. “Shut up, or I will punch you.”

 

“I’ll duel you for Erica.”

 

“And I’m not a prize to be won,” I said, glaring at Cormac, who immediately cowered. “Go to your dorm right now, or I’ll tell Emily you were bothering me again.”

 

It was incredibly funny to watch him run off. Though all my male friends had tried warning him off, the only warning that had actually worked was Emily’s. 

 

I wasn’t really sure what exactly Emily had said to the boy, but whatever it was, it had scared the wits out of him.

 

I turned to Katie, a small amused grin on my face before I realized that I was standing next to Wood, even though I was trying to avoid him.

 

“Who the hell was that?” Katie said.

 

“That little monster was Cormac McLaggen. Thinks he’s a big shot, hits on every girl who walks past him. It was amusing till him following me around became creepy.”

 

I grinned in amusement in the direction the kid had run, but I was well aware that Wood was staring at me.

 

“Anyway,” I said, turning back to the two Gryffindors, “I gotta get going. See you.”

 

And with that, I walked off, but not before I heard Wood say, “She’s acting weird.”

 

For some reason he sounded confused and sad. 

  
I quickened my pace. This was for our own good. 


	16. Chapter 16

It was just the first week of March and the snow had melted away to welcome spring, and the sun was now warming up the grounds of Hogwarts. It was already time for the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match.

 

I couldn’t be happier- I hated the cold of Scotland to begin with and the warmth of Spring was a welcome distraction. Apparently this was odd for Scotland because it was usually quite cold in the first week of March but regardless, it made me very happy. I had always prefered rain to snow, so I could deal with the slightly chilly nights. 

 

At least it wasn’t the bone-biting cold of the winter. 

 

It was a day before the match and I was sitting in the chilly dungeon, waiting for Snape to arrive. Usually, the Ravenclaws had their potions lessons with the Hufflepuffs but for some reason, he had switched the schedule up for today and decided that we would be paired with the Gryffindors instead.

 

“I suggest you all take a seat with the people you were partnered with last time,” said Snape, making my eyes snap towards Wood who was looking at me triumphantly.

 

“Looks like you can’t avoid me anymore,” Wood said as I took my place next to him.

 

“I have better things to do that avoid you, Wood,” I said, easily.

 

He snorted.

 

“Yeah sure. Why are you avoiding me, Sanders?” he said, but I was saved from answering by Snape who chose that moment to speak.

 

“Its now March and you all have two more months till the OWLs begin. As you’re all aware, you will not have classes for the two week period preceding the exams. So today, I’m going to make you all redo potions,” Snape said, earning a groan from the class.

 

“Since the Gryffindors,” he spat hatefully, “and the Hufflepuffs have shown no talent or brains whatsoever in this subject, I’ve decided to put them with competent individuals for the remainder of the year.”

 

My hand shot up but Snape answered my unasked question.

 

“And yes, I’m aware that they were technically already paired with individuals I deemed competent, Miss Sanders. The Gryffindors, unfortunately, are incapable of learning when there are Slytherins and so this change was deemed necessary.”

 

My hand came down as I grumbled quietly.

 

“As the Ravenclaws are doing you all a favour by wasting their time on you, I’ve decided to keep a prize for whoever manages to finish their potion the most efficiently,” Snape continued, picking up a dusty tome.

 

“This is a collection of potions that are used across the world and this is one of the very few copies of it. I will give it whichever Ravenclaw manages to protect their potion from the stupidity of the Gryffindors. Because heaven knows the dunderheads couldn’t do anything right, even if they were spoon fed.”

 

I straightened up, excited. This book sounded great and I really, really wanted it. 

 

“Today you’ll all be attempting to make the Wit-Sharpening Potion. Heaven knows the Gryffindors need it.”

 

I quickly ran to the storage cupboard to get the ingredients and ran back, completely forgetting Wood was even sitting there.

 

“So?”

 

“Mix in Ginger Root until lime green,” I said, avoiding the question.

 

“Oh come on. Is it because you’re scared?”

 

I snorted. “Yes, Wood. I’m so terrified, I’m quaking in my shoes.”

 

“Then why are you being weird?” 

 

“I’m not,” I replied, peering into the cauldron to check if the potion was lime green, and then accordingly poured in the Armadillo bile.

 

“Yes you are,” Wood said, shifting closer to me.

 

“Shut up Wood.”

 

He grinned, knowing his closeness was making me uncomfortable. I put in the ground scarab beetles till they were red.

 

“Why are you being weird?”

 

“I’m not, dammit!” I yelled at him, as he poured in the armadillo bile, but it was too much. The potion turned dark green instead of yellow, ruining our potion.

 

“Ten points from Gryffindor for ruining a potion,” said Snape, looking at me disappointedly as he passed.

 

I stared at the potion in horror, realizing I had lost my chance to get that book. I turned to Wood, my eyes murderous as I let out an angry growl, grabbed my bag and stalked out. Wood easily kept up with me, smiling to himself.

 

“You,” I growled, turning around once we were far enough from the potions class.

 

He raised an eyebrow, shoving his hands into his pockets with a grin.

 

“How dare you,” I said, taking a step towards him.

 

“Oh, did I ruin the princess’ beloved potion?” he asked, mocking me.

 

“Do you have any idea how much that book is worth?” I snapped.

 

Her eyes darkened into something angry.

 

“Then you could have just answered my question,” he said, easily closing in so we were in each others spaces.

 

“I hate you,” I snarled, watching his face shift slightly to cover up the sudden flash of hurt. 

 

“Really,” he drawled. “Because it certainly doesn’t seem like you  _ hate _ me.”

 

I frowned, confused.

 

“If you hated me,” he said, moving closer, forcing me to take a step back. “You wouldn’t be so okay with me being in your space.”

 

I stepped back again, hitting the wall, as he moved in, his eyes dark and stormy as he stared into mine.

 

“If you hated me, you wouldn’t have come over to my place for Christmas,” he drawled. “And you certainly wouldn’t have gotten as angry as you did when Flint hit me with that bludger.”

 

My breath hitched as he moved even closer, his body pressing into mine.

 

“You know what I think?” he drawled softly. “I think you  _ like _ me.”

 

I let out a snort, making his lips curl into a dark smirk.

 

“And you’re scared of how you feel.”

 

I opened my mouth to snap at him but his lips pressed against mine, immediately letting him claim my mouth. I gasped against his lips, clenching his shirt, uncertain of what I was supposed to do. 

 

I liked this. I liked kissing Wood. But I didn’t understand why.

 

His right hand had cupped my face and his left was moving soothingly against my hips, his finger tracing lazy patterns against it.

 

He pressed closer, his right hand tangling itself with my hair and I suddenly snapped out of my weird haze.

 

I shoved him back, glaring at his confused face and watched as it turned into horror.

 

“How dare you,” I said, my voice cracking, and I was suddenly aware that I had tears in my eyes.

 

“Sanders,” said Wood, softly, reaching out to touch me, but I whacked his arm away.

 

“I’m not some fucking toy for you to play with,” I snapped, frantically trying to rub away the tears.

 

“ _ Erica _ ,” he said, softly, reaching out again, his face suddenly filled with remorse.

 

I simply turned around and walked away, not wanting him to see me crumble to pieces.

* * *

  
  


I lay on my bed, trying to calm down. It didn’t make any sense. Why would he do that? What the fuck did he mean I liked him?

 

I was distracted from my inner turmoil by a tapping on the window, and I saw a large tawny owl that I recognised immediately.

 

“Talia?” I said, confused as I opened the window, letting her in.

 

Talia was my mother’s owl. She had gotten her after the Fire and wanted to have something to remind her of her best friend and Derek’s mother.

 

I took the letter from her, digging up some treats to give her. Once I was certain she was satisfied, I opened the letter, worried.

 

_ Dear Ri-Cakes, _

 

_ Now that the danger is taken care of in New York and the Ministry is finally established, you can come home! We’re coming tomorrow to meet you at Hogsmeade and we’re very excited to see you! We’ve already gotten you permission from Professor Dumbledore. You can tell us all about these people Derek has been telling us about in his letters home.  _

 

_ We’ll see you for breakfast at the Three Broomsticks, alright baby? _

 

_ Love, _

_ Mommy _

 

I stared at the letter. I was happy that I had an excuse to miss tomorrow’s match since I was definitely not ready to look at Wood’s face. But...she said that I could come home.

 

If she had said this a couple months ago, I would have been incredibly happy about it. But now, I didn’t know if I wanted to go home.

 

I was very excited to see my parents again after so long, happy that the danger was no longer there to hurt them. But I wasn’t sure I wanted to go home.

 

I was no longer sure where home was.

 

I shook myself out of my thoughts as Emily entered the room.

 

“Erica,”  she said, softly, “Why is Wood standing outside our common room asking everyone to call you?”

 

“Tell him to fuck off. I never want to talk to him again.”

 

Emily’s eyes turned even more concerned, stepping forward.

 

“Erica, what’s wrong?”

 

I debated the pros and cons of telling her what had happened, but I wasn’t sure.

 

Finally, I chose to take the risk and sighed.

 

“When I was at the Wood’s for Christmas, the day after I found out about Hailey, Wood and I may have encountered a...charmed mistletoe,” I said, and Emily let out an excited squeal, earning a look from me

 

“Which I attempted to destroy, not knowing it was charmed.”

 

“Oh crap.”

 

“So naturally...we were forced to make out. And...just now, Wood kissed me again and we had been fighting and he...said a lot of stuff.”

 

“Oh Erica,” she said, finally closing in the distance between us, wrapping her arms around me.

 

“I hate him,” I whispered, thankful that she didn’t ask what was said, what was implied.

 

“I know,” she said, and then, after a few moments, I sighed into her shoulder

 

“My parents sent me a letter. I can go home,” I said, and felt her stiffen.

 

“Do you...do you want to?” she asked and I shrugged.

 

“I...I’d like to be with my parents but I’m happy here too. I don’t know.”

 

"How long do you have to decide?" 

 

"I'm meeting them tomorrow. Not coming for the match," I replied, and she stared at me, suddenly realising that what Wood had done was horrible enough to make me want to miss the match.

 

"They said they'd be waiting for me in Hogsmeade after breakfast."

 

Emily moved back, but kept her arms around me like she was trying to make me stay.

 

“You need to tell Jason,” she said, and I nodded.

 

She quickly ran out to call him and then came back to take me to the boy’s dorm. Jason had kicked everyone else out by the time we both reached his dorm.

 

As I told him about my parents’ letter, I couldn’t help but think about how different it was here, compared to New York. I was confused about where I wanted to be, because New York meant being with the Coven again and Hogwarts meant my team, the Claws and my other friends. 

 

My mother had told me to find something worth staying for. 

But I wasn’t sure what it was anymore. Had I found something to stay for? Had I found a place to call home?

 

Hogwarts felt comfortable, but I had a feeling it was because of the people I had befriended rather than the place itself. I had many friends in New York as well, though none of them were anything like Emily and Jason. 

 

Even my old team hadn’t felt like the one I had now- a group of ragtag quidditch enthusiasts who loved the game as much as I did.

 

I didn’t know what to do, what I wanted. I had never had to make a choice like this because I liked to plan things out. I always had a plan ready for everything, but now, I was completely confused.

 

And as the night passed, I slept in Jason’s bed, his arms wrapped around my waist and Emily holding my hand in front of me. 

 

I had never felt more at home than that moment, I had found my home away from home.

* * *

 

“You ready?” asked Emily, seated on my bed as I pulled on my leather jacket. 

 

“As ready as I ever will be,” I said, quietly, quickly checking if my boots were zipped on properly before covering them with my jeans.

 

I couldn’t help but be excited to see my parents, even if the reason was my return to New York. Back when I stayed in the States, I could see them maybe in the morning if it wasn’t a busy week, and then if I was up late. Of course, that was only whenever they were in town. Before the establishment of the Ministry, the coven stayed in a small town outside New York, where it was relatively quiet.

 

“You know we understand, right?” Emily said, getting up so we could go down to the Great Hall.

 

“I know,” I said, still subdued. “But I hate that I don’t know what to do. I hate the indecisiveness.” 

 

Emily brushed her hand against mine, trying to calm me down, but I couldn’t help but feel like this decision would be the most important decision I had to make.

 

Even when I was a child, I had hated the feeling of not knowing what was going on. I hated not being told what was happening, because it always left me confused and fumbling. 

 

I had so much here, I couldn’t just...leave it all behind. But home was at New York, the coven was in New York now. Mum, Dad , Derek’s Quidditch team, my music friends- they were all at New York.

 

And I was here. 

 

How could I possibly choose between them and the friends I had gained here

 

We arrived at the great hall, and Jason was waiting for us, dressed in Gryffindor colours. 

 

He smiled sadly at me as I stepped towards him, letting him wrap his arms around me.

 

"I wish you didn't have to go back to New York," he said quietly, "I'll miss you like hell."

 

Before I could respond , I heard someone drop something, and turned to see Wood standing there, his broom on the ground, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly open. His skin looked a little paler than usual, and I frowned at him.

 

“You’re...leaving?” he asked quietly, and I turned away from him, grabbing my bag and walking away.

 

“Sanders!” he yelled, and I could hear him jogging after me. I tried to walk faster to exit.

 

“ _ Erica! _ ” I heard him yell, and I stopped. For a second I considered sprinting away, but instead I turned around, my eyes cold and angry. His face had a little more colour now, from the running, but his eyes were wide and frantic.

 

“ _ Don’t _ call me Erica. You’ve not earned that honour,” I snarled, feeling a rush of horrible, terrible joy as he tried to cover up the sudden cracks that statement had caused. “My parents are here to meet me, and to talk to me about transferring back.”

 

“You’re...you’re leaving?” he said, his voice oddly soft and vulnerable.

 

Instead of answering his question- a question I myself didn’t have the answer to yet- I turned around and walked through the door.

 

“Goodbye Wood.”

 

With those words, I left him at the top of the stairs that led out of the castle, and walked towards the thestrals that would take me to Hogsmeade. I pulled out a carrot for each of the creatures, watching them gorge on the vegetables as I tried to calm myself down. One of them butted its head against my cheek, as if it could sense my weird feelings. I smiling shakily, giving the animals one last pat, before climbing into the carriage.

 

Why was it so hard for me to stay calm when it came to Oliver Wood? No one else in Hogwarts made me react with such strong emotions. No one else made me so competitive.

 

I shook my head as if it could shake out any thoughts of Wood. I didn’t want to be thinking about the feeling of his lips against mine, his gentle fingers soothing me, the press of his body against mine. I certainly didn’t want to think about his soft, teasing smirk or his twinkling brown eyes.

 

Derek hadn’t responded to my mail properly when I had sent him that letter, so many days back.

 

_ Erica, its okay if you feel like that. Just promise me one thing: when you finally understand what it is, promise me you’ll give it a chance. That you’ll give yourself that chance. _

 

Derek was being annoyingly cryptic and I hated it when he got like this. However, I knew that he wanted to me to understand what I was feeling on my own, because it was something I needed.

 

Whatever it was, right now it made me uncomfortable. I had quidditch to take care of, OWLs to study for. I didn’t have the time for Oliver Wood and his annoying... _ everything _ .

 

I looked out of the window and realized I was already at Hogsmeade. I hopped out of the carriage and pulled out my bag. I offered the two thestrals another carrot each, smiling to myself as they chomped down on it, and made my way to the Three Broomsticks.

 

It wasn’t a particularly cold day, but the ground was slightly soggy from the rain the night before. I trudged my way into the pub, and grinned when I was suddenly attacked by a woman.

 

“Riri!” cooed the woman, and I laughed, suddenly feeling happy again.

 

“Mom!” I cooed back, clinging onto her for a moment, before glomping on my dad, who chuckled and squeezed me tightly.

 

My father wasn’t a particularly tall man, at 5’5”, but he seemed oddly larger than he actually was. He had eyes that were constantly twinkling in amusement, even though he wasn’t particularly good at showing or explaining emotions. I had recieved my short genes from him, apparently, considering that I stood at 5’4”. My mother said that he had been very handsome when he was younger and then somehow managed to become more so as he aged.

 

The two of them honestly made me puke sometimes.

 

My mother on the other hand, was 5’10”, and still looked like the model she had looked like when she had married my father. She looked exotic for an American (regardless of the fact that interracial marriages were becoming more common now), which amused everyone in the Coven. She was always befriending random people and seemed to be the sort that was rather lost in her own mind.

 

However, both my parents were known for their never-say-die attitude both in the court and when dealing with rogue covens. 

 

“How’s quidditch been?’ asked my dad, making my mother groan.

 

“Don’t start that until we get our food,” she said, shaking her head, and I suddenly felt every bit of me relax, forgetting Wood entirely.

 

“Erica,” said Rosmerta, smiling brightly at me as we took our seats. “Not with your friends today?”

 

“No,” I said, grinning, “Just my parents.”

 

“Honestly, I’m a bit surprised to see you out when Oliver has a match,” said Rosmerta cheerfully, after greeting my parents, and I forced a smile.

 

“Some things are more important,” I replied, and Rosmerta laughed easily and left once she took our orders.

 

“Is this Oliver the Oliver that is related to Derek’s Abby?” my mom asked, and I sniggered.

 

“So they’ve finally got it together?”

 

“I’m not really sure,” said Mom, shrugging. “Derek’s pulling the ‘we’re just friends’ card but I don’t believe it at all.”

 

“He’ll tell us what’s going on when he’s ready,” said Dad, waving away the topic. “So, Erica. Tell us how Hogwarts has been.”

 

“Most of my subjects have been going well,” I said, shrugging. “The shift in History of Magic was a bit of a struggle, but beyond that, nothing’s really academically different.”

 

My mom nodded. “What about Defence?”

 

The Alpha Coven laid heavy emphasis on the importance of learning DADA, and even when I was younger, my parents had highlighted how important it was for me to do well in that subject.

 

“The teacher is okay,” I said, frowning at the thought of Quirrel. “He’s a bit odd, though. He makes me uncomfortable. He’s...harmless but something about him just...makes me uneasy.”

 

My dad frowned at me, thoughtfully, but my mother distracted him by saying, “What about your captaincy and your house?”

 

“That’s going pretty well. I have a small group of friends. I’m closest to Jason and Emily, and this Gryffindor named Hermione.”

 

At that precise moment, Rosmerta came over with our food, set it in front of us, and then handed me a gryffindor scarf.

 

“I’m sorry, could you give this to Oliver? He left it here last time he came here.”

 

I nodded, knowing that my father, at least, had picked up on the fact that this boy was someone I didn’t want to talk about. He caught my eyes, and raised and eyebrow and I subtly shook my head as I kept the scarf in my bag.

 

“So how’s the Coven?” I asked, and my mum grinned brightly.

 

“You remember Riley, right? She used to be your baby sitter when you were a baby and Derek was at school. She left when you went to school in favour of travelling. She’s back and she’s been working with Franklin on the possibility of creating a new system for the covens.”

 

I nodded, interested, as I ate my breakfast.

 

“You used to love her,” she said, fondly shaking her head. “You’d follow her everywhere.”

 

Dad smiled and shook his head.

 

“All that aside,” he said, seriously. “I think we should talk about whether you want to transfer back to your old school or not. Because we’ll need to commence procedures as soon as your academic year is completed.”

 

I took a sip from my coffee, before answering, quietly.

 

“In all honesty, Dad, I don’t know what I want to do.”

 

They both looked at me for a moment, almost like this response was expected.

 

“Erica,” said my mother, softly, reaching out to hold my hand. “Remember how I told you to try to find a reason to stay?”

 

I stared at her for a moment and nodded. 

 

“If you have found that, and it makes you happy, stay. If not, you can come home. We’ll stand by your decision either way.”

 

I felt like a huge load had been taken off my shoulders, and they took the discussion to other topics, telling me about how the ministry was coming along, asking about the matches, how school functioned here.

 

Soon, it was time for all of us to leave.

 

“Oh!” said Mom. “Tomes and Scrolls has A Midsummer Night’s Witchcraft!”

 

Before Dad could say anything, she hurried off. The book had been released just a few days ago and followed the scope of magic of any kind through muggle literature. 

 

Dad and I stood there for a moment, before he turned awkwardly to me. I could tell from his stance that he really didn’t want to say this, because he had this policy of not getting involved in other people’s business. He wanted people to solve their problems themselves, but occasionally, he would voice out an opinion, if it was needed.

 

I had seen him do this to so many people that I knew that he was going to say something I might not actually want to hear.

 

“I don't know who this boy Oliver is or what he's done to make you unhappy, but at the end of the day, I know you don't react to people you don't care about. So this boy, regardless of what your issues with him may be, matters to you. If...if you wanted to stay, Erica...whether it is for this boy, or your team, or your friends, you should stay if that is what makes you happy. Don't think of it as a choice between us and them. I know that's how you see it, but that's not what it is.”

 

He reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.

 

“Wood and I aren’t friends,” I said, making him smile like he was thinking of something else, seeing someone else.

 

“Sometimes, sweetheart, you don’t need to be.”

* * *

  
  


“Erica!” yelled a voice, as I made my way to the Ravenclaw dorm after meeting my parents. I turned around and saw the entire team running towards me.

 

“Is it true?” said Randolph, panicked.

 

“What is?” I said, frowning. Emily and Jason emerged from the back of the group.

 

“That you’re leaving us?” said Cho.

 

“It was an option,” I said, shrugging.

 

“My parents wanted to talk to me about it. But I’m not leaving. I have a team here, I can’t just leave you guys. Plus, I sorta like it here,” I said after a small pause, surprising myself. It looked like the decision had been made.

 

The group- including Jason- looked relieved, but Emily didn’t seem surprised at all. It was almost as if she had known that I would decide to stay, which was strange because she had seemed so worried about it earlier.

 

I decided I’d ask her about it later, in favour of waving them off and laughing as Grant and Cho hugged me.

  
  


The next few days were a blur of rushing back and forth between classes, avoiding Wood, and thinking of how to tell my parents I wanted to stay.

 

Finally, I ended up sending Abby a letter, because I didn’t know who else to talk to. I told her about how I wanted to stay and how I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t mention her brother once in the entire letter, but somehow, she knew something had happened.

 

_ Erica,  _

 

_ I’m glad to hear you’re planning on staying! I’m sure you’ve already started preparing for your O.W.Ls, even though they only start in June.  _

 

_ As for how to tell your parents, I suggest you be honest with them. Considering Derek told me they’re incredibly chilled out, I doubt they’d take offence.  _

 

_ Also, a little birdy told me that my little bro is moping again. I assume he did something stupid and pissed you off. How you deal with him is beyond me. And before you say that I deal with him, I think I should point out that we’re related so I’m forced to deal with that little shit. _

 

_ Anyway, I think you ignoring him is a great punishment because nothing affects Oliver as much as guilt. _

 

_ Love, _

_ Abby. _

_ PS- Derek said he wanted me to remind you that he’s coming to Hogsmeade to meet you over the Easter Hols. And before you ask, no, your brother and I are not together. We’ve decided to try to get to know each other before trying anything. _

 

Though the prospect of meeting Derek soon was definitely causing an improvement in my mood, the fact that Wood was always around me was annoying me to no end. I would make a point of not interacting with him, and apparently I was obvious enough that even Snape didn’t make me work with him again.

 

Instead, I ended up working with Percy, who was quiet and smart and never picked a fight with me.

 

That should have made me happy- being around someone who shared my academic seriousness- but all it did was make me even more annoyed.

 

I decided that we didn’t need to have practice until after the Easter holidays, much to the joy of the team. I did, however, insist we met at least once a week. In the beginning, our weekly meetings was merely us sitting together and chatting, but as the Easter holidays came closer, it slowly morphed into a study group, regardless of the difference in years.

 

The only issue with this arrangement was that I spent more time helping some people than studying myself. Finally, around a week before the Easter holidays, I said I was cancelling our meeting and everyone dispersed to hang out with their own groups or girlfriends/boyfriends.

 

I, on the other hand, fled to the library, where I hoped to get some peace and quiet.

 

The exam holidays would be in the last two weeks of May- which was when the non-O.W.L and non-N.E.W.T students would be having their exams- and the Ravenclaw/Gryffindor match would be on June 6th. That would, fortunately, be on one of the days that no one had an exam, since it was a Saturday. While it was a good thing that my head would be clear at that time, it also meant that the team would have to practice like crazy before the W.O.M.B.A.T

 

However, the more I thought of meeting Derek, the more I thought about how to answer the inevitable question about Wood. Derek was, against all odds, fond of the boy. Even if he wasn’t, I didn’t know how to explain what had happened, especially when I myself didn’t know how to put it into words without the tears forming.

 

It wasn’t that he kissed me...since I did kiss him back, and against my rationale, I enjoyed it. I encouraged it, if I was honest with myself.

 

So why, then, was it that I felt betrayed? It wasn’t like he had actually been a threat to me at the time.

 

I shook the thoughts from my head, not wanting to think about him right now.

 

I sighed with relief when I realized that there was not many people in the library, which meant I could take my seat and not worry about being bothered.

 

Taking the seat, I pulled out my Transfiguration text and began reading, crossing my feet under the table. It didn’t take me long to submerge myself in the book, immediately losing myself to the facts and history of the Draconifors Spell.

 

I didn’t even notice someone sit across me and open their own books until the sun had set, and I looked up to see Wood studying across me. He didn’t say anything when I shifted, only looked up and gazed into my eyes.

 

I waited for him to say something, my heart thudding in my ears,but he said nothing, his hands shifting as if he was nervous. I got up and fled the library, unsure of what had just happened.

 

Regardless of the fact that Wood had not spoken, nor had he touched me, it felt like he had said something very important.

 

I just wasn’t sure if I was ready to hear it.

* * *

  
  


April came by incredibly quickly, considering I spent most of March studying and avoiding eye contact with Wood, in the fear that one of us would break our unspoken agreement to not speak. Surprisingly, Wood and I worked pretty well when we weren’t in each other’s faces.

 

It was unnerving, to say the least. We would spend hours sitting across each other in the library, just studying, passing each other parchment and ink without even exchanging a word. Even Emily and Jason found it strange, but neither said anything beyond the first mention of it.

 

I stared out of my window, watching the students who were all going home walk towards the station. Among them were Jason and Emily, both of whom had to leave since their parents wanted them home before the O.W.Ls. Both had asked me if I wanted to tag along, but I waved them off.

 

According to Abby’s latest letter, Wood was going to be staying back as well, since no one wanted to hear him rant about about the Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor match. Abby was also off in Holland on an assignment and Mr. and Mrs. Wood had both gone to Manchester on some work.

 

So, beyond the Weasleys, Potter and Hermione, the only person I knew who was staying back was Oliver Wood.

 

That should have made me annoyed, or at least uncomfortable. Instead, the weeks we had spent studying together made it seem like it wasn’t an issue.

 

I grabbed my Arithmancy and my Ancient Runes books, deciding that it looked nice enough outside to go and study under a tree. 

 

When I was really young, I had loved numbers. The only things I loved more than numbers was potion making and quidditch. Mrs. H had been a really famous mathematician in the academic circles, and as a result, I was exposed to the beauty of numbers at a really young age. Going to school and discovering Arithmancy had seemed like a stroke of luck to me, and if it hadn’t been for quidditch, I would have probably ended up aiming to be a potions master or a famous arithmancer.

 

As I made my way past the Great Hall, I heard someone calling my name.

 

“Erica!” said Hermione as she caught up to me. “They’ve been saying that there’s a storm brewing outside. The rest of us are all hanging out in the Gryffindor dorm. Would you like to come with us?”

 

I saw Percy strolling towards us as well. Both of them had evidently come from the library.

 

“Yeah, sure,” I said, warmly.

 

It had been a while since I had hung out with the younger girl. I had been caught up with my own problems, studying and quidditch. She, herself, seemed to have immersed herself in some project that she had gotten up to with her two friends.

 

The trio was always together. It made me happy to see her so happy, her loneliness forgotten. 

 

It didn’t even occur to me that hanging out in the Gryffie common room would mean seeing Wood, and possibly being forced to interact with him.

 

I smiled at Hermione as she chattered on about her classes and what she had read recently, with me interrupting with my own points on the books. Percy didn’t say much, just listened to us.

 

When we got to the Fat Lady, Hermione said the password and scurried in, but Percy quickly grabbed my hand before I could follow.

 

“Listen,” he said, quietly. “I know its really none of our business, but he’s our friend. I’m sure he did something stupid, but...if its possible, please forgive him. Its killing him.”

 

I stared at him for a moment, and opened my mouth but he shook his head.

 

“You don’t owe me an explanation, and if he’s the one who did something, you don’t owe him one either. I just thought you should know that he’s hurting.”

 

With that, he moved out of my space but not before Wood came out and saw the two of us.

 

He looked at the two of us, and the glanced down at where Percy’s hand was still holding mine. Percy immediately pulled his hand away, his eyes wide, and I didn’t understand why Wood looked like he was angry and sad at the same time. All Percy did was hold my hand to make sure I didn’t bolt at the first mention of Wood.

 

His fists clenched and then his entire body seemed to cave in as if he had given up on something and he turned around and walked back through the portrait.

 

“Oliver, wait!” Percy said, running in after him, and I slowly followed.

 

Percy bound up the steps that I assumed led to the boy’s dorm, and Andrew smiled at me  weakly before running up as well. I gave the closed door a last glance before letting Hermione pull me into a seat next to Fred and allowing myself to forget Wood for a moment and enjoy the time I had with Hermione.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver's POV

I stared at wall in front of my bed, unable to shake off the image of Percy holding Erica’s hand. Why did it bother me so much? Why did it hurt so much when she ignored me?

 

It had gotten to the point that I had come to terms with not speaking to her, just her presence around me was enough. That should have really been my first signal.

 

No, not the first signal. The first warning bells should have rung in my head when I got so into snogging her at Christmas, when I had felt so  _ at home _ with my body pressed against hers. I should have known something was up when I kept gravitating towards her, to the point that I had kissed her again after potions, only to lose her completely.

 

It wasn’t my usual pattern when it came to girls, which was probably why it hadn’t even occurred to me that this was something else. I wasn’t ready to put it into words that I could say out loud, but I had already admitted to myself that I liked her much more than I would admit.

 

Andrew and the twins could never know. They would never, EVER let me forget.

 

There was a series of thumps up the stairs and Andrew and Percy rushed in.

 

“Oliver, listen,” said Percy, more or less falling on my bed in a very un-Percy-like manner. “We were talking about you. It wasn’t whatever you thought it was.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, but from the unimpressed looks the two gave me, I could tell they weren’t buying it.

 

“Oliver,” said Andrew, his face serious. “The two of you need to figure your shit out. I don’t understand how the two of you function with this...tension and anger between you.”

 

“Its starting to get to the rest of us too. Hermione just asked me why you’ve been moodily glaring at walls while Erica bolts at the first mention of you like she expects you to attack her.”

 

I looked down at my hands. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know what Erica was thinking, how she felt, what she wanted. Because that could and probably would change our dynamics as a whole. So I’d stay quiet, I wouldn't ask, because there is no way I was going to let her know what I wanted. 

 

“Just...Oliver, talk to her. Please. I’ll even try to get the others to leave you two alone. But you can’t continue like this. Even you know that,” said Andrew, and I sighed. 

 

“I’ll talk to her when she leaves.”

 

The next hour or so was a blur for me. The anxiety of having to actually talk to Sanders and the fact that she was sitting right across me, laughing with my friends, not even looking at me...I was naturally panicking. 

 

That was how I found myself walking Erica back to her dorms, feeling incredibly awkward.

 

“Look, Sanders,” I said, finally. “I’m sorry. I know...I know you don’t want to talk to me or even associate with me right now, but I hope you can forgive me. Let’s just...go back to what we were?”

 

She turned to look at me, her expression unreadable.

 

Truth was, I wasn’t even sure what we had been before I kissed her again, no mistletoe to use as an excuse. We weren’t friends, and regardless of all our fronting about us being enemies, we were definitely not that either.

 

However, if she realized how redundant my statement was, she didn’t comment on it.

 

“We can try,” she said, carefully, and I tried not to grin like a crazy person.

 

“Truce,” I replied.

 

“Except in Quidditch,” she pointed out

 

I snorted. “Nothing will  _ ever _ make me go easy on you in Quidditch.”

 

She grinned easily, but I could see from her stance that she wasn’t ready for going back completely to what we had been. So I kept my distance and dropped her to the Ravenclaw dorms, not moving into her space like I wanted to.

 

I had already ruined what we could have had. I wasn’t going to mess up what I managed to salvage.

 

* * *

 

It wasn’t that the realization of how I felt hit me when I kissed her. It hadn’t hit me slowly either.

 

It just came into my head like a quidditch strategy- a series of thoughts that just...came together like a puzzle. 

 

I had been flying to get this guilt out of my head. It was only in the sky that I could forget the problems in my life, and so I took to the sky and let all the worries fall away. It was then that my brain made the connections.

 

The comfortable manner in which I would just invade her space, the way I couldn’t help but smile around her (though I tended to smile more when I managed to piss her off), the way I had felt something in my chest crack when I saw her face after I kissed her.

 

And then it hit me like an army of bludgers.

 

_ I was attracted to her.  _

 

I had nearly fallen off my broom, because it was such a bad idea. 

 

Erica Sanders was the exact sort of girl I should have avoided from day one.

 

She was smart, brave, reckless, and wickedly good at Quidditch.

 

If Andy ever found out, I would die of shame, because he had been claiming that it was only a matter of time for the past few months. Andy had this idea that I had a type when I just wanted a snog- dumb, airheads that would never pose a threat to my quidditch life.

 

So the natural assumption he would jump to would be that I wanted Sanders for more than a snog- and bloody hell, I didn’t want her just for a snog.

 

And just like that, I spent the next few days paranoid that anyone and everyone could read my feelings off my face.

 

And then, one day, I saw her just sitting in the quidditch stands, staring up at the sky with an odd look on her face. 

 

_ Erica is much more than a competitive girl who likes aggressively arguing with people. _

 

She looked so sad, but at the same time, so free- guiltily so. Just from the mix of emotions, I could tell she was thinking about her friend- Hailey. Sometimes, when she thought no one was watching, she would watch Hermione with a sad smile on her face. 

 

I remembered her telling me once, when we were both sitting together and just existing in each other’s space, as we tended to do, that Hermione reminded her of Hailey in several ways. 

 

I suddenly felt the need to get that comradery back, that sense of comfort even if words weren’t spoken and no hugs were given.

 

And so, I went and sat with her in the Library. She didn’t notice me for a while, completely engrossed in her book, and then when she finally looked up, she looked at me with this painful mix of fear and confusion. I just stared back at her, and then went back to what I was doing.

 

Soon, we both got into some sort of silent routine. I would go to the library after classes, sit at her table with her and quietly study, only looking at her when she seemed to need a quill or more ink. 

 

Now, we were back to normal- whatever normal meant. 

 

I wasn’t sure if I was happy about that, but the fact was that at least she was talking to me now -- which was more than I could have hoped for.

 

I shook the thoughts out of my head, trying to not think about her. This attraction to her was incredibly stupid. We could barely speak to each other without arguing, our relationship was more of a rivalry than anything and we were incredibly ill-suited for one another.

 

Forgetting about this and moving on was probably the best choice of action at this point.

 

I could do that. I could ignore the feelings, crush them until they were non-existent. 

 

It couldn’t possibly be that hard.


	18. Chapter 18

The next month or so found us all running around to finish studying for our O.W.Ls. Our Claw study session happened every night, and when the non-O.W.L and non-N.E.W.T students started their exams, we started our study break, which was when we all fell head-first into our books.

 

Somehow, the team was managing both our exam prep and our practices, though it was evident that it was taking a toll on us all. I would spend day and night studying my books and coming up with strategy after strategy, reading every Quidditch book there was in the Library whenever Wood wasn’t studying with me.

 

Our dynamic had changed slightly, probably because of the fact that neither of us knew how to act around each other.

 

The more work we had, the more quidditch I had to plan for, the moodier I got.

 

However, I knew that it had little to do with the amount of work I was doing and everything to do with the fact that it was May 31st- the day Derek’s parents died in the fire. I sighed to myself, dragging my feet in the quiet, dark castle. It was not yet curfew, but it was getting close to it.

 

Usually, I managed to bury myself in an obscene amount of work to distract me, but given the fact that I had prepped the team and studied my portions in advance, that was not going to happen this year.

 

I leaned against the nearest wall, sliding down so I was sitting in the dark with my back against the wall, and closed my eyes. I could hear footsteps coming towards me, slow at first and then they sped up.

 

“Sanders?” said a soft, familiar voice. I refused to open my eyes. I didn’t want to see his concerned face. Not Wood, never Wood.

 

He knelt down in front of me, tucking my hair behind my ears gently, before whispering, “Come on. Can’t let Filch find you like this.”

 

He pulled me up, picking me up and making his way to what I assumed was the Gryffindor dorm. I buried myself into his shoulder, letting his earthy scent ground me.

 

“I assume you don’t want to go to the dorm,” he said softly, “So I’ll take you somewhere else okay?”

 

I nodded into his shoulder, gripping harder as I tried not to think.

 

Instead, I focused on why I was so willing to let Oliver Wood take care of me when I was at my weakest. Maybe it was because I knew he would take care of me, make sure I was better. It didn’t explain why I knew with every fiber of my being that he was safe, why I relaxed when he was near me. It didn’t explain anything, but I decided to take it as a good thing and not overthink it.

 

“Here,” he said, gently setting me down on what seemed like a bed. I opened my eyes and stared around me.

 

“Where are we?”

 

“Its called the Room of Requirement. We ask it to be something we want and that’s what we see when we get inside the door.”

 

“This is what Derek’s old room back home looked like. In our house, not the apartment we stayed in in New York.”

 

“I just asked for a place you would feel better,” he said, shrugging like it was nothing, like he didn’t realize I needed him to help me put myself back together again. 

 

He moved towards the small kitchenette that wasn’t actually part of Derek’s actual room, but was just an addition made by the Room itself.

 

I pull the quilt that was neatly folded on the bed around me, letting myself close my eyes and just think of the hugs Derek would give me when I needed them, and the way Mr. Hale would pick me up and toss me in the air while Mrs. Hale had screeched in the background about being careful.

 

I could smell hot chocolate, and immediately felt my body relax at its rich smell. I opened my eyes, watching Wood as he came out with two mugs of hot chocolate and handed one to me.

 

“Chocolate makes everyone feel better.”

 

I snorted despite myself, and reached out to take it from him. 

 

“You could have just wished it up, right?” I asked. “Isn’t that how this Room works?”

 

“Some things taste better made by hand. Hot chocolate is supposed to make you feel better. Magically created hot chocolate not only doesn’t have the same effect, but it feels like I’m copping out,” he said, lips twitching in a small amused smile.

 

He sat next to me, crossing his legs. 

 

“Thanks,” I said softly, clutching at the mug.

 

“You looked like you needed it,” he said, easily, smiling at me. His eyes, however, looked worried. It was almost like he was trying his best not to reach out and pull me in. Every time that happened, we knew exactly how it would end up.

 

And, as far as I had understood our strange conversation so many days ago, we had both agreed that we would try to avoid touching like that.

 

“Its the day that,” I started, but I suddenly felt a lump forming in my throat. “Derek’s parents died on May 31st.”

 

He didn’t say anything, seeming to pick up on the fact that I didn’t need him to respond, I just needed him to listen.

 

So I sipped on my hot chocolate, allowing it to warm me up, and then leaned back and started talking.

 

I told him about the Hales, how Mr. Hale used to play with me, how Mrs. Hale used to take me with her to work when I had no one to look after me. I told him about our inside jokes, how we would gang up on Derek, how we would play family quidditch every Sunday.

 

I kept talking, not letting myself stop in the fear that I would lose them if I did. I kept talking until the moon was up again and it was time for us to go to the Great Hall for our first exam. 

 

The entire time, Wood just sat there, watching me talk at him. He didn’t touch me at all, but comforted me nonetheless. He didn’t mention how he should probably be studying for our first O.W.L, or how we should both be sleeping. He just sat there, regardless of the fact that I was selfishly making him stay with me, and listened to me talk about times that had been, and choke out the story of the fire. He never touched me once, but him being there regardless meant everything.

 

It meant more than I could ever say in words.

* * *

  
  


The first week of the O.W.L.s went by incredibly quickly. It was soon Friday, and I had run to my Ancient Runes exam without bothering with breakfast. This was basically the only reason why I didn’t know about what had happened the previous night until I came out and found Emily waiting for me.

 

When she told me about how Harry, Ron and Hermione had all gone to retrieve some stone and had gotten hurt, I panicked and ran to the infirmary without bothering to listen to anything she was yelling at me.

 

Somehow, I managed to not run into anyone in my hurry to get there. Hermione was sitting on a bed, more or less in one piece, though she looked tired.

 

She gave me a small sheepish smile, and against my better judgement, I melted, unable to be angry at all. 

 

“Before you say anything at all,” said Hermione, wincing slightly because she knew I had every right to worry. “Harry needed me. He’s the only one actually hurt. Or at least, to this extent. Ron was pretty badly injured but Pomfrey got him fixed up pretty quickly.”

 

It was only then I noticed Harry lying on the bed next to him.

 

“Oh dear,” I said. “Is he going to be okay?”

 

“Yeah,” said Hermione, smiling at me. “Apparently he just needs to rest after everything that happened.”

 

I sighed, before realizing something.

 

“Oh crap. He’s not gonna wake up and be in shape for the match tomorrow.”

 

Hermione looked torn between amusement and exasperation at my horror.

 

“Wood was here a while back. He just looked at Harry, fought with Madame Pomfrey and stormed off.”

 

I shook my head, unable to shake off the wrongness of this. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. The Ravenclaw and Gryffindor match was supposed be with both at full power, not with the seeker unconscious before the match even began.

 

“It’ll be fine,” said Hermione, holding my hand as she hopped off the bed and guided me out of the infirmary.

 

But Hermione had never understood how important Quidditch was to me. She knew that it was, and respected that, but she didn’t understand why. She wouldn’t understand how this was a bad thing. How could I prove myself if the Gryffindor team wasn’t playing at its best? How could it possibly be a good match then?

 

All that build up would be for nothing.

 

I walked into the Great Hall with Hermione, and looked up and met Oliver’s gaze. He looked tired and sad, but he still smiled slightly at me. We approached him, and Hermione happily took her seat next to Ron, while I sat on her other side, next to Oliver.

 

Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, ready to leap in between us in case we fought. Instead, both of us sat quietly, and the concern skyrocketed.

 

“I can talk to Hooch,” I said quietly.

 

“And say what?” said Wood, with a snort. “Don’t do anything, just leave it.”

 

I withdrew immediately. I knew exactly how this always played out, and I was really not in any mood to fight with Wood.

 

We were quiet for a while, and then Percy and Andy both left.

 

“Sanders,” said Wood, reaching for my hand under the table, and holding it tightly. “Please, do me this one favour. Go to the match tomorrow and play like Harry is actually there. I’ll never ever forgive you if you half ass it.”

 

I stared at him for a moment, and then smirked.

 

“Well,” I said, amused. “I can’t have that can I?”

 

Wood’s head snapped up and he stared at me, grinning. For some reason, his eyes twinkled a little more than usual, and I found myself feeling incredibly strange. 

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow Wood,” I said, and ruffled Hermione’s hair fondly before heading to the door. 

 

However, once I was outside, I felt my happiness disappear. I knew that the Gryffindors would have to work incredibly hard to manage to win without Harry, even if my team took it easy on them. Their own captain was evidently second guessing himself, so I could only imagine the kind of blow this was to their self-esteem.

 

I had come to realize that the Gryffindor team had started to heavily depend on Harry, to the point that they had started to assume that if Harry was there, they could win. They didn’t realize how talented they were, didn’t realize exactly how amazing a captain Wood really was. Sure, he evidently pushed them to the brink of insanity, but that was why they were so good. 

 

The only reason I enjoyed our rivalry was because I knew it was a challenge. I knew that Wood made it worth the fight.

 

Even if we won tomorrow, I wouldn’t be too happy about it, because we were playing a team that no longer had any belief in themselves.

 

I was beginning to wonder if they ever did.

* * *

  
  


I sat quietly in the common room as everyone around me celebrated. We had won. I knew we would, the moment I saw Oliver’s face that morning. I knew he had given up already, even though he had all but promised me that he would never go easy on me in Quidditch.

 

I was so angry I didn’t even know what to do. 

 

_ “You’re an amazing captain! Why the fuck is your team not fucking playing?” I screamed at him, as the timeout was called. “You told me you’d play right!” _

 

_ Oliver didn’t say anything, just looked away. _

 

**_And it looks like Sanders is yelling at Oliver Wood in the middle of a match. Not to say I’m too surprised. Sanders has always been Wood’s worst critic._ **

 

_ “Fuck off, Jordan!” I roared, and it was obvious that he could hear me from his seat. _

 

**_Ok, so no more commentary on the background. Got it, Sanders!_ **

 

_ I glared at Wood, but he couldn’t meet my eyes. _

 

_ I knew that this wasn’t the time for me to get emotional about this, and turned around and flew to my team. _

 

_ “Destroy them.” _

 

_ “Erica,” said Jason, gently. “Are you sure?” _

 

_ “I’m sure,” I said, though I knew they could see from my face that I was angry and sad and defeated.  _

 

_ This wasn’t what this match was supposed to be. _

 

I got up and walked past the group of celebrating Ravenclaws.

 

“Dude!” one of them said, patting me on the back. “Brilliant game today! Worst beating in 300 years!”

 

I forced a smile, refusing to let myself bark at him that today was a horrendous match because it couldn’t even have been called a match at all.

 

I waved at him and left the Common Room, scowling to myself as I hurried down the dark hall to get as far away from the celebrations as possible.

 

I rubbed angry tears from my eyes as I turned left, towards a portrait I liked to hide in when I didn’t feel like meeting people. I had randomly found it one day while talking to the portraits and they suggested I hide behind it to get some quiet.

 

I heard someone coming and turned, lifting my wand as I quietly said, “Lumos.”

 

All the people doing their O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts had gotten a curfew extension so they could go study in the library, so I wasn’t too worried about roaming around.

 

However, it wasn’t Filch whose face I saw.

 

“Wood,” I said, glaring at him.

 

Before he could say anything, I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the portrait hole.

 

“Sanders, where are you taking me?”

 

“Shut up,” I hissed and with a flick of my wand, made all the tiny candles fixed on the ceiling light up so we could see.

 

I stared at him angrily for a moment, as he looked away from me. His hair was still wet as if he had just emerged from the bathroom after having taken a bath. I had heard he had basically tried to drown himself.

 

“You told me you’d play right,” I whispered, knowing my voice sounded broken. “You  _ promised _ me.”

 

Before he could say anything at all, I pushed him against the wall and pressed my lips against his. I don’t know why I decided to do it- all I could think was that he had broken a promise so I was going to break mine.

 

His arms wrapped around me, pulling me in and I angrily bit his lower lip. His breath hitched, but his fingers gently traced circles in an effort to soothe me. He pulled away for a moment and whispered, “Shh.”

 

Then he leaned back in, letting me bite his lip again, his fingers moving up and down my thigh soothingly but never moving any higher. I knew my cheeks were wet now, but he didn’t mention it. He simply pressed against me, letting me take all my anger out on him. 

 

My finger slipped under his shirt and I dug my nails into the abs I could feel, making him wrap his arms under my thighs and lift me up before pushing me against the wall behind me.

 

Every time I tried to make the kiss angry and vengeful, he would slow it down again, rubbing small, soothing circles into my thighs.

 

Finally, Wood pulled away, wiping my wet cheeks with shaky fingers before leaning in and kissing me one last time.  I let him sort himself out and then fix my own clothes and my hair. He ran his fingers through my hair and sighed.

 

"I think that if we keep doing this, its going to get harder and harder to deny what this is. I don't think either of us are ready for that yet,” he said, his eyes sad as I looked confused.

 

He shook his head, but his eyes still looked sad and I moved forward again to ask him what was wrong, my own anger forgotten.

 

“Go back to your dorm, Erica,” he said, and I didn’t correct him. “You’ve had a big day. Go rest and study for your next set of O.W.Ls.”

 

With those last words, Wood left the small alcove we had been hiding in and closed the portrait behind him. I shakily flicked my wand and all the candles extinguished as I slid to the ground.

 

What was happening to me?

 

What was happening to  _ us _ ?

 

* * *

 

I smiled slightly as I packed my bag. It was still early, considering we only left tomorrow afternoon, but I wanted to get some packing done before I went to meet Hermione about the details of going to her house over the summer.

 

All things considered, it had actually been a really good year. I had made some amazing friends, played some good quidditch and had done pretty well in class. I also felt like I had grown up over the year, given all the drama that had gone down.

 

I glanced at the still unpacked suitcases that belonged to my dorm mates, and chuckled, grabbing my hairband before jogging out to where Emily was waiting for me. She had wanted to go visit Andrew, but for my sake, waited for me to do some packing. 

 

Emily and I were very similar in many ways, and I assumed that was why we had gotten so close over the year, as opposed to me getting close to the other girls. Emily could easily pick up what I was feeling, the same way I could pick up her feelings. We both knew that the other wouldn’t appreciate it if we got involved.

 

Similarly, Jason and I had gotten really close, simply because he cared enough to get involved in my life. I knew that the our friendship made Trisha very insecure, but as of now, that bomb had yet to go off, and Jason and I were allowed to stay as we were.

 

“Ready?” asked Emily looking away from the fire place.

 

“Yup! So tell me, Emily. What is the status of your relationship now?” I said, nudging her teasingly. She blushed and looked away from me as we made our way to the corridor.

 

“We...um, we’ve not yet put a label on it,” she said, and I sniggered.

 

While it seemed obvious that Andrew and Emily were really in love with each other, neither of them seemed to be willing to put a label on their relationship. Instead, it seemed like both parties were content with what they had now.

 

It didn’t take long for us to reach the Gryffindor tower, me teasing her as we made our way there.

 

“Ladies!” yelled Fred from his seat, “Come and join the celebrations!”

 

I rolled my eyes at the two of them and tried to see where exactly Hermione was.

 

“Sanders!” called someone, and I turned to see Wood. I opened my mouth to say something before I was cut off by the feeling of his hands on my waist as he picked me up.

 

“We won the Cup!” he said, laughing as he twirled me around. The entire room had fallen silent, and he only realized when Andrew cleared his throat.

 

He almost dropped me to the ground, making me yelp, “Careful!”

 

“Sorry, sorry. A little tipsy,” he said, grinning.

 

“Jackass,” I said, unable to keep a small fond smile in. “Where’s Hermione?”

 

“Erica!” called a voice and I grinned and made my way up the girl’s stairs to Hermione’s dorm, leaving Wood to deal with the suddenly quiet room.

 

“What!?” he said, his Scottish accent more pronounced than usual. “Where’s the butterbeer? We’re supposed to be celebrating!”

 

Everyone hooted and yelled together, and I was thankful for being inside Hermione’s dorm rather than out there.

 

If I was out there, Emily would definitely notice how my cheeks were burning. I didn’t know why I was blushing, or why my heart was suddenly pounding in my chest, but I knew that Hermione wouldn’t even ask or question it. Not the way Emily would, immediately noticing my reactions to everyone and everything and cataloguing them.

 

Hermione chattered about how she was planning on taking me to all the amazing places in her town and how her parents were looking forward to meeting me, but I couldn’t completely focus on her, the feeling of Wood’s hands on my waist still etched in my mind.

 

“Anyway,” said Hermione, “I’m going to go to bed now. I suppose you’d want to hang out with the others, right?”

 

The way she said it was completely innocent, and she probably didn’t even mean it the way it sounded to me, but all I could think of was going down there and seeing Wood again.

 

However, if Hermione was going to sleep, I couldn’t very well just sit and creepily watch her sleep. So I hugged her good night and made my way down.

 

Emily and Andrew were no where to be seen, and Fred and George seemed to have lured some girls into playing a game of Wizard’s Chess with them.

 

“Hi,” I felt, more than heard, someone say in my ear. Wood had wrapped his arms around my waist again, pulling me back into his chest.

 

“I’m really, really drunk,” he mumbled into my neck, making me shiver.

 

“Then go to bed,” I said, and he made a noise of disapproval.

 

“Waiting for you,” he said, holding me tighter when I tried to move out of his arms.

 

“Come on, Wood. You’re going to regret all of this tomorrow morning,” I said, pulling him towards the staircase.

 

“We can’t go there,” he said, pulling me back. “Andrew and Emily are in there.”

 

I frowned, because I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with Wood now.

 

“Have a drink,” he said, smiling easily at me. He had put most of his weight on me, having draped his arms on me.

 

“No thank you,” I said, spotting a love-seat that was empty in the corner and manhandled Wood into it. 

 

He hummed, pulling me so that he was lying down on my lap.

 

“I don’t like it when you call me that,” he mumbled, as I awkwardly looked anywhere but at the room of Gryffindors and at the boy on my lap. 

 

“What?”

 

“When you call me Wood. It feeling like you’re trying to distance yourself, like we’re not whatever we are. I hate it. You call Diggory by his name, the twins by their name. You even call Andy by his name, but you always call me Wood.”

 

I sighed.

 

“What would you like me to do, then?” I said, but by that point, Wood had already fallen asleep.

 

I spent the next hour glaring at anyone who let out a tiny giggle or even looked at us.

 

“Um, Erica,” said Andrew, once the two had finally emerged looking happy and well-snogged. “Why is Oliver sleeping on your lap?”

 

“Hell if I know,” I grumbled. “He manhandled me into this position when I tried to get him to sleep here. And now I’m stuck.”

 

Neither Emily nor Andrew pointed out that I could have easily just pushed him off me, and for that I was thankful. I didn’t know why I didn’t just push him off me, especially considering how we were with each other, but something about the hurt look on his face when he mentioned the way I referred to him stopped me.

 

It was obviously something that bothered him, but he would never speak of it when he was sober, and I knew that. It didn’t feel right mentioning it to Andy and Emily. I, myself, didn’t know what I should do, because it had never occurred to me that my insistence on calling him Wood actually hurt him.

 

_ “Don’t call me Erica. You’ve not earned that honour.” _

 

My eyes widened, remembering the flash of hurt I had seen on his face when I said that. Suddenly, I could see every single time I had hurt him over this one year, and I felt my heart clench.

 

Andrew pulled him up and helped him up the stairs, and I shakily got to my feet.

 

“Are you okay?” asked Emily, looking worried.

 

“Just tired. I’m going back,” I said, and she nodded, not stopping me as I hurried through the crowd and out of the Common Room.

 

How could I even look at him, considering how I had hurt him?

 

Which was why, really, I tried incredibly hard to not see him or be around him for the entirety of the next day and the train back. Through what I knew was sheer dumb luck, I managed to avoid Wood throughout the train ride back to London. 

 

I could feel his eyes on me as I left with Hermione’s hand in mine, but I didn’t turn around. I couldn’t look him in the eyes after being such a horrible person to him. How could I look at him and not see the hundred times I had put that sad, heartbroken look on his face?

 

Hermione looked up, innocently confused, and asked, "Aren't you going to say goodbye to Oliver?"

 

I shook my head, and she gave me a small frown.

 

“Did you fight again? Whatever he said, I’m sure he doesn’t mean it. He really likes you, you know?” she said, matter-of-factly

 

“What?” I said, as we made our way through the barrier.

 

“Oliver? He really respects you. Its obvious. He glares at everyone who doesn’t speak of you the way he thinks they should. Fred and George constantly tease him for it.”

 

I didn’t reply, unable to figure out how I could explain my entire dynamic with Wood-  _ no, Oliver _ \- to Hermione. I could barely articulate it for myself.

 

I pushed away all thoughts about him and our entire dynamic, and decided to simply enjoy the summer Hermione had planned out for us.

 

After all, there was no point letting my confused, muddled feelings about this entire disaster ruin the summer ahead of me. Oliver would have to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so I posted the entire series here because jesus christ. I keep forgetting to post. I get so caught up in writing, and then work. So here you go. Recipe for Disaster is now complete! 
> 
> Disasterology is now underway and if you guys have ideas, let me know! I already have a few chapters down but I won't post till I get to the half way point. Disasterology will be set in Harry's Second year, so you'll see a lot of commentary of pureblood society and I'm thinking of also pulling some stuff from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. I know that I'm going with the idea of Alpha Coven and all, but I will be naming the new "ministry" as MACUSA. The timelines are obviously off, but oh well. I'm hoping to create some commentary on British and US magical worlds, maybe, if I can. Let's see how it goes. 
> 
> But yeah, reviews are welcome and so are any and all ideas! Feel free to ping me your ideas over on tumblr. My username is misakikinomoto. You can use it to remind me I'm supposed to write that and post. :P

**Author's Note:**

> Join me on Tumblr at misakikinomoto.tumblr.com


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